[IxDA Discuss] select exact number widget?

[pauric]

Mark, I wouldn't discount the newer design patterns as necessarily mandating
a heavy use of graphics.  I do accept that there is little to hold back a
designer from going too far, resulting in interfaces that are too 'wow'
resulting in a lot of focus on the interface, not what can be accomplished
with it.

That said, they're light.  They don't require images, you can simply
manipulate divs & their basic html content if you want.  I must confess that
I've only started using them, I don't want to come across as a huge
proponent only using 'web 2.0' elements, I find the new yahoo mail quite
unwieldy and switched back quickly.  However they are a welcome set of new
building blocks with little overhead if you implemented them with care.

I do not sign up to the thinking that people are used to existing
interactions and there's a usability hit when you put something new in their
way.  I feel the newer design libraries can enable us to build less
intimidating interfaces that have the potential to invite users in to
explore & learn, opening the door to more intuitive flows.  In short, they
can add an element of delight, earning us some forgiveness for the times we
implement a workaround or constraint.

Regarding long development cycles, I feel its quite the opposite.  These
libraries shorten the bridge between design/presentation and
development/implementation.

regards - pauric

On 1/8/07, Mark Schraad <mschraad at mac.com> wrote:
>
> Like I said - it is not elegant, but it does give the user an
> indication of the limit (we also message this proactively) and the
> ability to correct it. Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of a
> rich graphic environment or long development cycle. As we do
> iterative updates this is one of the first issues to be reviewed and
> upgraded.