> I personally dislike them but havent nailed down a solid usability > argument against the design Robert highlighted.
I don't think it's so much a usability issue, per se. It's an experience issue. I'm sure many people can *use* the form just fine, but the experience of doing so is rather frustrating. It's the emotional aspect I'm concerned about. A form shouldn't crush a person's sense of progress or accomplishment. then is a multistage wizard not conceptually the same thing - > no real end in sight except some arbitrary progress bar? Progress bars (or "progress thermometers" as they are sometimes referred) are not arbitrary. They serve as indicators of how a process is chunked, and set clear expectations for users. They can easily see that there are, say, four steps and that they're on Step 2. This simple clarification makes a world of difference. Imagine you're an expert carpenter and you're building a treehouse. You know you need to design it, take measurements, go buy the lumber and nails and such, cut up the wood, and put it together. This may be a complicated process, but you have a good idea of what you're getting into. Now imagine you have no idea how to build a treehouse and you fumble your way through each of these steps, asking the staff at Home Depot every time you get stuck, every time learning that there are more and more steps, and never knowing when the end of the process will come. The trick is to make the user feel confident. You want to make her feel like an expert who can get through a form with no problem. You don't want her to feel like constantly-surprised novice carpenter. (Weird analogy, but it was the first thing that popped in my head.) -r- ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
