Re: [Usability] Ellipsis on buttons

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2006-03-23 at 14:50 +0000, Alan Horkan wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, Calum Benson wrote:
> 
> > Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 11:56:56 +0000
> > From: Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>
> > To: Joachim Noreiko <jnoreiko yahoo com>
> > Cc: Gnome usability <usability gnome org>,
> >      GNOME Documentation <gnome-doc-list gnome org>
> > Subject: Re: [Usability] Ellipsis on buttons
> >
> >
> > On 23 Mar 2006, at 09:26, Joachim Noreiko wrote:
> >
> > > How do I describe a button that only says '...' ?
> 
> You describe it as a bug which must be fixed.

Why isn't it just a combo box?

> > > Eg, in the Keyboard prefs, Layouts tab.
> >
> > Probably "Browse" or "Open" depending on the context.  It would be
> > interesting to know what the accessible description of those buttons
> > are, as that's what will be read out by a screenreader.  (If they
> > don't have a proper one, that's a bug.)
> 
> Buttons should be labelled.
> 
> Developers should be slapped for not properly labelling things.
> (Reading documentation to find out what things do should be an option not
> a necessity.)
> 
> There is no really no excuse, dialogs all need to be able to reflow and
> resize with different font sizes and themes.  Localisation needs to be
> done anyway and there really isn't any point cutting corners by not
> labelling buttons.

Oh, come now.  We use iconography for all sorts of purposes
in our interfaces.  Should drop-down menus remove their arrows
in favor of a "Select" label?  Should disclosure triangles be
removed in favor of "Open/close group" buttons?

This need to label everything gives us bulky and cumbersome
interfaces.  One reason Mac interfaces often feel slick and
efficient is that Apple isn't afraid to use their icons.

--
Shaun