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From: dwal@ellis.uchicago.edu (David Walton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: New HIG for pull-down/pop-ups
Message-ID: <1990Aug22.001116.26081@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 22 Aug 90 00:11:16 GMT
References: <3961@crash.cts.com> <44112@apple.Apple.COM> <1990Aug21.200600.13164@eng.umd.edu>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: U. Chicago Computing Organizations, Academic and Public Comp.
Lines: 41

In article <1990Aug21.200600.13164@eng.umd.edu> russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes:
>In article <44112@apple.Apple.COM> kazim@Apple.COM (Alex Kazim) writes:
>>
>>The arrow is meant as a visual clue, rather than a definition.  It's like
>>a road sign indicating curves ahead: the curves on the sign don't match
>>the terrain in any sense.  Similarly, the popup arrow is meant to indicate
>>the presence of a menu rather than its modus operandi.
>
>Nice rationalization, but I've never seen a sign for a left curve on the road
>have anything but a left curve on the sign, nor vice versa.  Even when it
>is a series of curves, the first curve on the sign always matches the first
>curve on the road.

Yes, and knowing that the curve on the sign follows the direction of the
curve on the road is something that I simply couldn't do without when
I'm driving.  :-)  :-)

Note the words which Alex uses: "clue" versus "definition" or "modus
operandi."  The roadsign indicates, "hey, guys, watch out, there are
some curves ahead," while the down arrow in a popup menu says, "this
is one item in a popup menu."  In neither case do the indicators serve
as exact blueprints to the thing they're referring to (curves or
menus).  Furthermore, I really can't see that having the arrow change
based on the selected item's position in the menu offers that much
advantage.  I can see situations where the immediate visual cue might
be useful, but I wonder if the changing state of the arrow might not
just confuse The Rest of Us (tm), in which case I don't think the
extra functionality would be worth it.  (But somebody with a much
better background in cognition and human interface design than mine
would have to answer this question.)

Just my $.02.

>Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu



--
David Walton            Internet: dwal@midway.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago   {  Any opinions found herein are mine, not  }
Computing Organizations {  those of my employers (or anybody else). }