Re: [Usability] markup in the statusbar messages, why not?

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Mon, 2004-09-27 at 01:54, Alan Horkan wrote:

> If there are reasons against using Markup on status bar messages (and if
> anyone can find a specific refernce to it in the HIG) I would be
> interested to hear that so as to help the Inkscape developer avoid any
> problems or at least manage any known issues.

I don't believe there's ever been a guideline to that effect in the
HIG.  

To be honest I can't think of any huge arguments against it (other than
the technical ones, like translation difficulties), in cases where it
genuinely improved legibility, provided we had guidelines for regulating
its usage.  However, I have to admit I can't think of any statusbar-type
messages off the top of my head that would be improved by it; they
shouldn't exactly be verbose.

If the markup is just being used to try and draw attention to the
message, though, that's a different matter-- if it's important to demand
attention, then the status bar isn't the place for it.  (And I think
there is a guideline somewhere that says that.)

Cheeri,
Calum.

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

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems