I like the clear way you've stated these rules Jack, thanks. I recently did a design review with support and field engineers looking at concept sketches. They all spoke out (rather strongly) to request that controls always be visible on the screen and not disappear. It seems that vanishing controls make their support tasks more complex. I'm attempting to honor their request. Mostly I can, but there are still some cases where different configurations create or expose different controls. For example, in my application some people will have telephony configured and see phone controls, others not. So I seem to be following your rules at the feature level - if the users have phone functionality, show them all the phone controls, even if some are disabled. Within a feature/panel though, I'll always show the controls. So, for example, even if someone's configured phone provider will never support conferences, the application will still display a conference button in a disabled state.
Michael Micheletti On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 12:49 PM, Jack Moffett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bart, > > Your instincts are correct. Here's a post I made on my blog awhile back: > > Developers often ask me whether a function should be hidden when not >> available, or merely disabled. I gave them the following two rules in my UI >> Design First Aid lecture. >> >> When a function is unavailable due to current system state, but may be >> enabled for the current user when the state changes, the control should be >> disabled. >> This provides a visual indication that the function exists, and the user >> knows that there is an action they can take to enable it. When possible, I >> specify a tooltip that explains why the function is disabled. >> >> If a function will never be made available to the current user (barring a >> change of the user's access privileges), it should never be seen by the >> user. >> There is no reason for the user to be exposed to functionality they cannot >> use. This only leaves them wondering why they can't access it. >> >> > http://designaday.tumblr.com/post/47558495/back-to-basics-disable-or-hide > > > > Jack L. Moffett > Interaction Designer > inmedius > 412.459.0310 x219 > http://www.inmedius.com > > > The public is more familiar with > bad design than good design. > It is, in effect, conditioned > to prefer bad design, because > that is what it lives with. > The new becomes threatening, > the old reassuring. > > - Paul Rand > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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
