I had this problem yesterday with Google Video Uploader. The login window has a 'Submit' button which stays disabled till the user types the first digit of his/her password (I had asked it to remember my username).
It looked strange and took me an unnecessary effort to realize it was not broken! The point is: I'd never click the 'Submit' button with the password field empty. Similarly, I'd rarely click Mitchell's 'Make payments' button with the amounts fields empty because *I'd be there to pay the amounts*. I wouldn't eliminate the probability of an error to occur, but the task tells a lot about it. Regards, *Filipe Levi* User researcher at CESAR UXnet ambassador in Brazil +55 81 99240791 | mobile +55 81 31345131 | office filipelevi.com On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 3:48 PM, Mitchell Joe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> The system should never present an error message to a user unless the > user > >> has done everything right but the system itself cannot respond > correctly. > >> Users should otherwise never be allowed to make "errors." > >> > > > >I second that. In fact, I preach it often. > > > > Okay, so what about this situation:You come to a screen to pay your bills > and there are empty fields to enter in different dollar amounts and a "Make > Payments" button. The user might make the error of pressing the button > without entering any dollar amounts. I think it's fair to call this an > error. One way to prevent this would be to disable the button and give it > that grayed out visual treatment until they enter a dollar amount but that > would mean that when they arrive at the page they'll see a "broken" button. > Will they realize that it's because they haven't entered any payment > amounts > yet or will they see the grayed out button and think, "Why can't I make > payments?" I think I'd lean towards showing an enabled button and then > giving a "You did not enter a dollar amount." error message if they pressed > it. I'd love to hear your thoughts. > > Mitch > > > On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 11:18 AM, Scott Berkun <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > Yes - I'd go even further and blame development tools. Here's a theory: > > > > 1. The design of development tools is indifferent to the making of good > UI. > > 2. Programmers are efficient (or lazy :) > > > > Therefore > > > > 3. Programmers will tend to make bad UI... until development tools make > it > > almost as easy to make good UI as it is to make lazy UI. > > > > A development tool that makes it easy to follow basic UI guidelines is 20 > > times more valuable than any book on UI design. Instead of blaming > > programmers, it'd be better to aim at the programmers who make tools for > > programmers. > > > > -Scott > > > > Scott Berkun > > www.scottberkun.com > > > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan Saffer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "IxDA Discuss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 8:59 AM > > Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Error Messages (Was: Hiding and Disabling > > MenuItems) > > > > > > I will say that this isn't only just an expedient method for > developers--I > >> can tell when I'm getting lazy in my thinking when the best I can offer > is > >> a pop-up error message. It can be an easy trap for designers to fall > into as > >> well. > >> > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > > 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 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
