Re: [Usability] Context sensitive buttons

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, jim Pharis wrote:

> Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 11:49:02 -0500
> From: jim Pharis <binbrain gmail com>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] Context sensitive buttons
>
> I need some clarification on a usability guideline in the HIG.
>
> http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/2.0/controls-buttons.html
> Make invalid buttons insensitive, rather than popping up an error
> message when the user clicks them.
>
> Does this mean that an application can't dim a button but allow it to
> be clickable? As an end user I might not understand why a button is
> dimmed under certian circumstances. Am I
> misinterpreting this guideline or is there another way to relay the
> information to the user?
>
> Check out the below link for justification for popping up the message
> explaining why the button (or object) is context sensitive.

It is usually better to design your application so that clicking the
button actually does something rather than being greyed out or even worse
telling the user they cannot use the feature.

For example in a graphics application if there is no active selection I
would expect an effect to apply to the whole image instead of being greyed
out or telling me i need to make a selection.

> http://www.asktog.com/Bughouse/10MostPersistentBugs.html
>
> Bug: Designers offer no way for users to discover why a given menu or
> option has been dimmed (grayed out), nor how to turn it back on.

Bruce is addressing the symptoms of the problem but it is more important
to have a well designed program so that the problem doesn't occur too
often in the first place.

What application are you working and what can we do to avoid this
situation entirely?

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

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