Musings on ‘UI Design’
There’s More to UIs Than What’s On Screen
Computer users usually associate the term “User Interface” with what is seen on the computer screen, because that is, literally, what’s right there in front of your nose. The following comment by Flickr user SabrinaK is a good reminder, however, that there is more to the UI than just WIMPs (windows, icons, menus, and pointers). […]
UI Impressions: “Skitch” by Plasq
Cris Pearson of Plasq — the Australian software company best known for their application “Comic Life” — was kind enough to let me join the beta test for Skitch, the upcoming, uhhh, software, that umh, well, uhhh, that is kind of difficult to describe…
What is it?
Skitch takes screenshots, grabs images from web cams, and imports […]
Consistently Inconsistent
Apple was one of the first companies, if not the first, to develop a set of rules about how developers should design the graphical user interface of their software applications. In their current incarnation, the Human Interface Guidelines still remain true to the original blend of fundamental insights gained from usability research on the one […]
A Programmer’s View on Default Buttons
In my previous article about That Evil Default Button, I accused programmers who use “Yes”/”No” or “OK”/”Cancel” buttons (instead of “[Action]”/”Cancel”) in their dialog boxes of being “lazy or incompetent”. Maybe we should find out if that judgement is as harsh as it sounds by viewing the topic from a programmer’s perspective.
“Yes”/”No” on Windows
While working […]
That Evil Default Button
Default buttons in dialog boxes make our lives easier by making handling a dialog box more efficient. Just hitting the return or enter key instead of having to click a button or using some keyboard short cut chord to invoke the default action, is a welcome user interface feature.
François Joseph de Kermadec points out, however, […]