Re: [Usability] label alignments

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Liam Quin wrote:

> For what it's worth, the open look team did some studies on this, I
> think, but they may have been based on experience with data entry systems.
> Certainly they ended up rcomending right-aligned labels.

Both your points are valid here... the OL team did recommend
right-aligned labels, but all the OL examples I can find to demonstrate
it consist of dialogs containing text fields only, which suggests your
point about data entry systems is correct.  

As I showed with the crummy ascii-art in my earlier mail, when you have
to start lining up other types of control, I still believe it's easier
to create a balanced, uniform look if any labels in the dialog are
left-aligned-- and the resulting design guidelines are certainly easier
to write :o)  I think this is also what the Java guys recommend (and
they also did some research); I'll check and report back on that.

Don't worry, though, I promise that if right-aligned labels win the day,
that's what I'll write about in the HIG, despite my personal preference!

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