See in-line :o)
On Jul 7, 2006, at 5:13 PM, Markku Mielityinen wrote:
As for the design philosophy of 'not making choices for the user',
I think that's a very general statement that has merit, but would
be dangerous to apply everywhere. After all, what is design other
than making smart choices for users, choices that either most
users aren't interested in making; or choices that users aren't
equipped to make.
I feel the same way in a sense that good design is one of the best
strategies to enhance the user experience. The essence of 'not
making choices for the user' philosophy is to make the default
settings meet the requirements of the majority but not to prevent
making changes from those who want and are equipped to do them.
Agreed.
Like all philosophies, when taken to extremes the result is not
what was originally wanted. I am aware of the problems in designing
an user interface that is able to meet the requirements of a
heterogeneous user population. Some designers prefers the so called
one button user interface, where the user is unable to do anything
wrong as there is only one button to press, whereas others prefer
to go to the other extreme with powerful but also very complex user
interfaces (cough cough, GNU emacs). I think that we agree that the
real art and challenge in this business it to balance the two
extremes so that users do not feel overwhelmed by the user
interface but still are able to use it for the tasks that the
software was designed for.
Of course, what I'm describing is the 80% case. So I'm not opposed
to an adjustable splitter in principle, it's just something that
needs to come in a package with a couple of other UI elements.
This is just an idea and like all ideas it requires thought before
implementation. An alternative solution to the problem that I ran
into would be to use tool tips to show the full collection name
when it is not able to fit the sidebar. And I am sure that other
solutions can be found when given some though.
Yes absolutely. If this doesn't work today, it should be logged as a
bug. Would you mind logging it?
Cheers,
Markku
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