Embedded objects in fields

[Thomas McGrath III]

2 cents:

I agree. It is not good moving buttons in fields or groups. It makes it 
too hard for users to develop a motor plan for those buttons. A motor 
plan is what happens during touch typing or even during walking where 
our muscles develop a plan to those activities without having to think 
about it.

In fact having to think about it is what slows us down. Try to think 
about the muscles in your legs moving while walking down the stairs - 
careful because you might actually fall down. Using motor plans is the 
'only' way to become truly proficient at using professional software. 
This is true for menus as well - constantly moving menus around make a 
user stop and then have to search for the menu and item visually.

There have been hundreds of papers and years of research done on this. 
It is part of what I do for a living.

I think that games might be the exception to this where movement is a 
part of the fun of the game.

Tom

On Jul 4, 2005, at 5:18 PM, Dan Shafer wrote:

> Just my two cents -- and it's a holiday here so my brain may be 
> otherwise engaged -- I think putting buttons into scrolling fields is 
> a terrible UI idea. By definition, it puts certain functionality out 
> of the reach of the user until and unless s/he scrolls the field. 
> Lotus NOtes allowed this and every time I saw an app designed to take 
> advantage of it, users got confused.
>
> I suspect I feel the same way about buttons in scrolling GROUPS. 
> Interactive functionality needs to be where users 
> can...well...interact with it, no?
>
> Dan (who fears he's probably started another one of those "up your 
> opinion" threads that are so much fun)
>
>
> On Jul 4, 2005, at 8:14 AM, Charles Hartman wrote:
>
>>
>> On Jul 1, 2005, at 1:04 PM, Mathewson wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I have just downloaded the SuperCard 4.5 demo and found
>>> they have a new feature:
>>>
>>> allowObjects
>>>
>>> this lets the user embed object (images and so on) inside
>>> FIELDS:
>>>
>>> WOW - I would love scrolling text fields with pictures!
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- and buttons! (At the moment I'm doing this is a non-scrolling 
>> field inside a scrolling group, but aside from being tedious that has 
>> other disadvantages, such as the scroll-wheel not working right.)
>>
>> Charles Hartman
>>
>>
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Advanced Media Group
Eagle Works Art & Sculpture
Semantic Compaction Systems
Prentke Romich Company
Prentke Romich International
SCIconics, LLC
Artist
Thomas J McGrath III
3mcgrath at adelphia.net