Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!cambridge.apple.com!alms From: alms@cambridge.apple.com (Andrew L. M. Shalit) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Hypercard buttons Message-ID: Date: 17 Oct 89 21:14:11 GMT References: Sender: news@cambridge.apple.com Distribution: usa Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cambridge, MA Lines: 40 In-reply-to: ccoombs@pilot.njin.net's message of 17 Oct 89 20:36:27 GMT In article ccoombs@pilot.njin.net (Cliff Coombs) writes: Netlanders, I am posting this question for a friend, so no flames please and keep the answers simple. Thanks in advance! Q: In hypercard, what is the signifcance of the size of the buttons??? The bigger the button, the easier it is to see, unless it gets so big that it is no longer recognizable as a button. Some people complain about very small buttons being hard to hit with the mouse. Also, very small buttons can sometimes be mistaken for punctuation marks (periods), or bad pixels in a screen. A fair amount of research has been done on the psychological motivations in button-size choices. Apparently it's possible to tell a lot about a hypercard programmer just from her/his choices when creating buttons in stacks. The relative size and placements of the buttons, as well as the uses of buttons, are taken into account. At one college in the northeast a teacher saw a hypercard stack created by a student with suspiciously sized buttons and reported it to the school psychologist. The student was brought in for an interview, and subsequently institutionalized. Student and faculty groups protested, siting the chilling effect on campus hypercard innovation. The college president, however, insisted that the safety of others at the school was more important than any "so-called right to privacy surrounding button-sizes in Hybercard (sic) stacks". A student group is currently circulating a petition calling the president's resignation. As far as the age-old belief that "larger buttons are better": this is really nothing more than a myth. Surveys have found that the way a button is used is far more important than its size. So all you hypercard programmers out there, don't feel insecure if your stacks have small buttons. -andrew