[HIG] Re: [Usability] label alignments

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Liam Quin wrote:

> Generally, people without typographic experience will say that
> they prefer left alignment -- this is why usability expreiments are
> done, and not just interviews :-)

Indeed  :) I've spoken to another couple of people here at Sun about
this, and their consensus was that visual designers tend to prefer
left-alignment, and interaction designers tend to prefer
right-alignment.

Currently, Sun's own software all uses left-alignment, without
exception.  When they wrote the Java L&F Guidelines, though, they
loosened this a bit, to the extent that it now basically says (to
paraphrase the quote that Anna posted recently) "use left-alignment,
except where right-alignment is better".

At the end of the day, the tests and discussions we've done/had here at
Sun over the years seem to bear out the conclusion that actually, it's
not terribly important which you go for, as long as you apply it
consistently.  Coming up with well-worded labels in the first place is
far more important.

So, since most people here seem to prefer right-aligned labels, and it
does have an accessibility argument going for it too, it looks like
that's what I'll be writing about in the HIG...

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