Hi, thanks for kicking my butt, Johannes :-) I am sorry, but I find it rather difficult to keep up with my participation on the UX-list in these days which were quite busy. But I don`t write this email for complaining, so I will just participate in this discussion: I don't know how to show semantics regarding user input via UI. Example: a) for one kind of input values the user is free to choose what he likes because any choice would work b) for other kind of input values the user is not free to choose what he likes because only the right choice would work
Is there a solution how to show this kind of semantics regarding user input via the UI?
An obvious method is to show the user an example of accepted input (e.g. like you have it on an online form where you have the entry field Birthday [ ] and then in brackets (e.g. 04/24/1980). An other method would be to check in the code and show a pop-up or a warning when the user makes some sensless or faulty input. An other method would be to add some explanatory text (I know that you don`t like this answer, Johannes :-)) For example in the case of the password you will be asked: Please set a password [ ] or Please enter you root password [ ] 2) Printer specific option settings: Resolution: Combo box with values 300dpi, 600dpi, 1200dpi Media Size: Please choose your media size: Combo box [A4, A5, Letter, Legal] Note: If you choose a paper size that is not available in your printer, you prints will be faulty.
You might think that this is no UX/UI problem at all because it is obvious for any normal user if the semantics is of type a) or b).
No, I also think, that it is an UX/UI problem. And I find it an interesting challenge :-)
In the YaST printer config we have two checkboxes [ ] Share Printer [ ] Do Local Filtering where the first one is of type a) but the second one is type b) but there is nothing in the UI which indicates this difference and this difference is no longer obvious to any normal user.
Again I would suggest some explanatory text. I know that this is not a creative answer, but I really thought some times about that issue, but I couldn`t figure out other solutions than those mentioned above. But maybe anybody else has some good ideas about that?
On May 23, 07 17:18:47 +0200, Johannes Meixner wrote:
Unfortunately (up to now) my experience with user experience experts is that the texts in the dialogs must be very short.
This is true for users which are very experienced. The lesser the user experience is, the more does he need some guidance (text, wizards, whatever) Am 23.05.2007, 19:24 Uhr, schrieb Juergen Weigert <jw@suse.de>:
But: If interfaces for two different tasks end up to be confusingly similar, we are responsable for resolving such confusion. Breaking the usual 'design rules' is among the options. I'd rather annoy the user with unexpected dialog elements than let him go down a wrong road.
Please try any other solution first before breaking consistency :-) The programms like the YaST are already inconsistent enough. Which is actually one of the next items on our list :-) Enjoy, Martin -- Martin Schmidkunz User Experience Specialist martin.schmidkunz@novell.com +49 (0) 911 740 53-346 ------------------------------------- SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg) ------------------------------------- Novell, Inc. SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10 Your Linux is ready http://www.novell.com/linux -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-ux+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-ux+help@opensuse.org