Comments on: User Interface Issues http://osric.com/chris/accidental-developer/2008/04/user-interface-issues/ What if Gregor Samsa awoke a computer programmer? Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:45:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: giblfiz http://osric.com/chris/accidental-developer/2008/04/user-interface-issues/comment-page-1/#comment-20 giblfiz Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:24:38 +0000 http://osric.com/chris/accidental-developer/?p=21#comment-20 Actually your help center app was where I took the inspiration for this, though mine is much less structured and less application specific. (which I'm discovering is a big weakness as well as a asset. I have found a partial solution to this problem with some cool CSS I cooked up Something like: span.options {background-color:#fff; border: solid 1px #000} span.options div.links {display:none;} span.options:hover div.links {display:block; z-index:200; margin:-5px; background-color:#66f; border: solid 1px #000; color:#33F;} and then all the control links are added as follows: This is the actual stuff <span class="options"> Change me <div class="links"> your various controls </div> </span> the one downside is it does seem to get into fights with existing CSS sometimes, but I'm working on solutions to that. Actually your help center app was where I took the inspiration for this, though mine is much less structured and less application specific. (which I’m discovering is a big weakness as well as a asset.

I have found a partial solution to this problem with some cool CSS I cooked up
Something like:

span.options {background-color:#fff; border: solid 1px #000}
span.options div.links {display:none;}
span.options:hover div.links {display:block; z-index:200; margin:-5px; background-color:#66f; border: solid 1px #000; color:#33F;}

and then all the control links are added as follows:
This is the actual stuff <span class=”options”> Change me <div class=”links”> your various controls </div> </span>

the one downside is it does seem to get into fights with existing CSS sometimes, but I’m working on solutions to that.

]]> By: chris http://osric.com/chris/accidental-developer/2008/04/user-interface-issues/comment-page-1/#comment-19 chris Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:43:23 +0000 http://osric.com/chris/accidental-developer/?p=21#comment-19 Making the admin interface mirror the user interface sounds a lot like what I tried to do for the Help Center application (as you may recall), and I think the Help Center suffers from the same problem: too many admin options cluttering up the page. At the opposite end, we've been working more with Sharepoint lately, and I find the admin functions too obscured and too clunky. (Maybe that's just Sharepoint 2003--we're upgrading soon.) I think that http://my.yahoo.com/ and http://www.igoogle.com/ get it right. Although they verge on obscure, at this point it is a pretty common and well-understood interface. Making the admin interface mirror the user interface sounds a lot like what I tried to do for the Help Center application (as you may recall), and I think the Help Center suffers from the same problem: too many admin options cluttering up the page.

At the opposite end, we’ve been working more with Sharepoint lately, and I find the admin functions too obscured and too clunky. (Maybe that’s just Sharepoint 2003–we’re upgrading soon.)

I think that http://my.yahoo.com/ and http://www.igoogle.com/ get it right. Although they verge on obscure, at this point it is a pretty common and well-understood interface.

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