Re: "Why would an always displayed list be better than a popuplist?"

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Darin Adler wrote:

> PS: Getting way off topic, but I must ask. You mention that most Mac and
> Solaris web browsers render the "Choose your country" control as a massive
> popup menu. Is there a web browser out there that does something better? (I
> know that web designers can make a better choice, but I didn't know that web
> browsers did.) If so, I'd like to know which one so I can check it out!

I confess I'm not actually aware of one (on Mac or Solaris), I was just
covering myself by saying "most" in case somebody else countered me with
one :o)  But browsers on Windows render the same control as a dropdown
list box rather than a popup menu, IIRC, so you get to scroll through
the long list of choices in a somewhat more sensible fashion.  

I'm not aware of any reason why a Mac or Solaris browser couldn't do the
same, if it really wanted to, although it might involve a bit of custom
widgetry depending on what toolkit the browser was based on.

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems