From: "vlad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> : A client of mine suggested an auto-complete field for a certain feature. : He also said the following: if a user is too lazy to type (which might be : true, as power users are : the ones who use the keyboard - or is it?) : we should also provide a classic drop-down box with : all the available options.
Some users can't type. For example, just today I was talking to a technical writer who never touches the keyboard because he gets problems with his hands. He uses voice recognition, a sip-and-puff switch, and an eyetracker. : So, first question: were you aware of this? Yes : Second question: are normal internet users aware of the first letter option? No. It's a tough feature to discover on your own: someone has to tell you that it's possible. So you get sort of 'islands of knowledge' where someone told someone who told someone. And then, even people who know don't necessarily use the feature. You have to be sufficiently familiar with the drop-down options to know the first letter of the choices available, and then be willing to type the initial letter frequently enough to get to the one you need. For example, I know that U will get me to United Kingdom in a country list, but it takes a variable number of Us to get there - and sometimes, it doesn't work at all because my country has been listed under England or Great Britain. Finally, if you client thinks that 'too lazy to type' is a description of your users then maybe a bit of audience research would be a good idea. Well, it sounds like almost certainly a good idea. Caroline Jarrett [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07990 570647 Effortmark Ltd Usability - Forms - Content We have moved. New address: 16 Heath Road Leighton Buzzard LU7 3AB ________________________________________________________________ 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
