Of HIG, Apple, and User-Centric Design

[Ken Ray]

Scott,

I think Dan was talking about checkboxes that are *enabled* but can't be
unchecked (or checked for that matter). If a checkbox is disabled, it is
expected that you can't check or uncheck it. If I'm wrong, I'll step
back and let you two talk it out. :-)

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: use-revolution-admin at lists.runrev.com 
> [mailto:use-revolution-admin at lists.runrev.com] On Behalf Of 
> Scott Rossi
> Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 1:26 AM
> To: use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
> Subject: Re: Of HIG, Apple, and User-Centric Design
> 
> 
> > A checkbox I can't uncheck is a surprise. I never (or at 
> least almost
> > never) encounter such beasts. Put one into your program at the very 
> > high risk that I will be sufficiently uncomfortable that I will go 
> > away. And, what is perhaps more sinister and important, I will 
> > probably never tell you why I went away.
> 
> Does this mean that any time you've encountered a preference 
> group in an application or the system that contains disabled 
> checkboxes, you stop using the program/system immediately and 
> trash it?
> 
> I wonder how you get along without QuickTime (System 
> Preferences/QuickTime/Connection tab), non US keyboard 
> layouts (System Preferences/International/Input Menu Tab), 
> the Mouse control panel (with a trackpad), or a modem (System 
> Preferences/Network/Modem tab)?
> 
> OK, maybe you have a T1 or DSL so you don't use a modem...
> 
> The point is, Apple is just as guilty of violating their own 
> user guidelines because, as has been stated on numerous 
> occasions in many forums, the guidelines are just that: 
> guidelines, not laws etched in stone.  Speaking as a more 
> liberal UI designer, I would say that Apple's UI guidelines 
> are a great resource for developing effective UIs, but the 
> bottom line for any project (and the foundation for the 
> guidelines in first place) is user testing, regardless of 
> what Apple says is good or not.  And while "non-standard" UIs 
> may indeed confuse or otherwise inhibit the effective use of 
> an application, there would be no innovation in UI 
> development if nobody broke "the rules".
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Scott Rossi
> Creative Director
> Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
> -----
> E: scott at tactilemedia.com
> W: http://www.tactilemedia.com
> 
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