>>> It looked though, like an XVT app, which wasn't *quite* a windows app, quite a mac app, or quite a solaris app. It was the single most common complaint from the user base. Our product didn't "look right". <<< This is the biggest mistake – the attempt to make it exactly like <you name the UI>. It never works and the closer you come to simulating of the target them more irritating the differences become. But, the UI similarity has nothing to do with user acceptance, just look around: every web application out there has different UI, they are crappy ones – and users accept it! Flash – has very different looks and feel – and users accept it! Winamp – does it look like WinUI? - And users love it. The point: it is OK to be different and it does not affect acceptance if the UI is usable. Too often UI's usability is pretty crappy but it is very hard for average user to pinpoint and explain what exactly is wrong, therefore they take the easy route: “it is not like <fill the blank>” . For more information on usability I suggest book by Donald A. Norman The Design Of Everyday Things http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ISBN=0465067107 It really helps setting the right mindset.
Patrick Casey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I never thought WORA guis were a viable goal to start with. The look and feel standards for the major gui platforms (Windows, Mac, ) are pretty diverse. Things as simple as confirmation boxes aren't standard across platforms, and it goes downhill from there. Back in the day (when java didn't exist and cross platform guis relied on compatibility libraries), I worked on an old MVS app that grew a gui client that had to run on windows, mac, and solaris. We used a library called XVT to produce a gui that kinda, sorta, worked on all three. It looked though, like an XVT app, which wasn't *quite* a windows app, quite a mac app, or quite a solaris app. It was the single most common complaint from the user base. Our product didn't "look right". It didn't behave the way a gui app for the given platform was expected to act, which increased training times and basically meant that folks had an extra-hard time working with our product. I personally had to sit through four hours of Banker's Trust's call center manager explaining, in excruciating detail, all the mistakes her (windows savy) technicians made whenever they tried to use our app. Swing apps always reminded me of that old XVT app in that they never felt "right" to me on any platform. They became, in effect, a whole new standard. So instead of is it windows, mac, or unix, it was now windows, mac, unix, or swing. At least SWT feels right on any supported platform. And lets be honest here, for most anything with a commercial gui, it's not Write Once Run Anywhere. It's Write Anywhere Run It On Windows :). Server side stuff is different, as are administrative tools where you can count on a high degree of tech savy on your user base, but for regular folks running regular apps, I never want to present them anything *except* the Windows UI. --- Pat > -----Original Message----- > From: Konstantin Ignatyev [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 4:07 PM > To: Tapestry users > Subject: RE: daydreaming of tapetry and ajax > > Just say no to SWT ââ¬â please do not support and > promote WORA breaking technologies. > > > --- Patrick Casey wrote: > > > > > Personally, if I never have to work with swing > > again, I'll die > > happy. It always struck me as overdesigned ... sort > > of the EJB of gui > > development. Plus I never liked the look and feel of > > swing UI's anyway, > > which is why I'm so glad eclipse is SWT based. > > Yes, I know others may disagree; I'm not claiming > > swing is evil, > > just that I don't like it :). > > > > --- Pat > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
