[thelist] Tip inspried (from: UI Standards)

[Jackson Yee]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Madhu Menon" <webguru at vsnl.net>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 05:10
Subject: Re: [thelist] Tip inspried (from: UI Standards)


> Given both these scenarios, why have the Reset button at all? Its effects
> are too catastrophic, and very few people ever need to take the extreme
> step of nuking all they've just entered. If you argue that it could also be
> used to reset form values, well, I've just explained how users don't know
> about it anyway, so they won't use it.

I can't say that I've ever actually used the reset button on a form either,
Madhu.  If I submit a form and receive errors, then I fix the few errors and
resubmit the form.  The reset button serves as more of a distraction than
anything for me.

Does anyone on this list use reset buttons commonly?

> I've always maintained that any UI element that could lead to dangerous
> consequences should be isolated and not clubbed with more innocent UI
> elements. It bugs me that the "Close window" button in Windows is so close
> to the "minimise" and "restore" buttons. With only about .25" square
> inches, it's easy to hit it when you really wanted to maximise the window.
> In applications like browsers, that immediately quits, causing a lot of
> irritation. It should have been in a corner by itself.

I can agree with this, but considering that you can double-click on any
non-button area in the title bar and maximize the window, using the maximize
button isn't really all that necessary.  Of course, you still have to find
this out before you can use it, which isn't a valid assumption for new users.

> Similarly, many apps (especially email clients) map Ctrl-S to "Save" and
> Ctrl-D to "delete". This is a recipe for disaster. Since S and D are right
> next to each other on the keyboard, it's possible to accidently delete the
> message you were writing instead of saving it. Ironic, isn't it? That two
> functions diametrically opposite to each other could be grouped so close?
> One saves, the other kills. I'm a power user, and I've often had my message
> zapped as I was typing it (I habitually press Ctrl-S every 30 seconds) and
> wondered "wtf just happened?"

That has never really been an issue for me, and from being a programmer who
had to once use Windows 98 [shudders], I'm used to pressing Ctrl+S after every
minor modification to a source file just to make sure that Windows didn't blue
screen me immediately afterwards.

Besides, there's one more handy command close to S and D - Z for "undo."

Regards,
Jackson Yee
jyee at vt.edu
http://www.jacksonyee.com/