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Replies:
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Last Post:
Feb 28, 2008 4:10 AM
by: walterln
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UI Design Standards: Hiding "Not Applicable Fields"
Posted:
Feb 27, 2008 9:41 AM
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UI Gurus,
What do the modern UI standards say about when/if you should hide fields which aren't required based on the current options a user has selected?
An example:
Single GUI Dialog has a pulldown option for user to select a vehicle type. GUI has additional fields below that pulldown which ask for information about the vehicle parts. Then the user, hits a Build button at the end to submit the information.
Question: If the user selects "Boat" as his vehicle, should I programmatically hide a field (JLabel and JField) asking him to enter the size tires he wants (vehicle has no tires)? Should I grey that field out, but keep it visible until it is relevant, i.e. user selects a vehicle with tires?
I've had a discussion with another Java programmer and we can't reach a conclusion. As always point me to any previously written stuff on this. I've always liked to completely hide non-relevant input options and it makes the GUIs smaller. The other guy says you should grey-out non-relevant fields, but show everything.
Sincerely Yours,
The Occasional User Interface Programmer
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Re: UI Design Standards: Hiding "Not Applicable Fields"
Posted:
Feb 28, 2008 4:10 AM
in response to: occasionalui
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It depends, but I think the most user friendly one would be a wizard. At the first page you pick what to build (and some common input like name etc). The next page changes based on what is picked (car -> wheels config page, boat -> sails config page).
However, if the type specific options are only one or two, I usually hide the non relevant input fields. But they are at the end of the input panel (the common fields stay in the same place), but do not make the panel smaller dynamically (I personally would not like size jumping dialogs).
I disable inputs when the user is allowed to edit it, but boats with wheels do not make sense, so better to hide it.
I could not find much explicit on in the these guidelines:
Apple GUI guidelines
MS Windows Vista GUI Guidelines
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