"Restricted format" approachs (as splitting input in many fields, or worse, using pull-down menus) add: - innecessary keystrokes or clicks and / or - need to move the hand off the keyboard to the mouse and back, and - mental preparation steps (splitting time in hours / minutes) The last two are the most time-consuming tasks in KLM-GOMS.
Adding a couple of seconds to the task may not seem to do any harm. But by the 1000th input, we've taken away more than half an hour of user's life. Talk about killing me softly with your GUI. Allowing freeform text, and validating / translating it back in a transparent way, will always be the most efficient approach. Requesting anything more than the minimum needed input (that can be as little as just one character, as Micah pointed out) is a waste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31500 ________________________________________________________________ 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
