[Sigia-l] Rollover Question (Web 2.0)

[Ziya Oz]

Jared M. Spool:

> However, there is one thing you missed.

I may have but not the one you mention... :-)
 
> If you watch users long enough, you'll notice that they rarely move their
> mouse until *after* they've decided what they want to click on. So, if the
> rollover contains any information they would need to make the right choice,
> it's likely they'll choose wrong.

...which is why I said: "what the rollovers are obscuring, the content, if
the revealed info is essential or additional..."
 
> Test two designs: one with rollovers and one without (with the same content
> always visible on the page). Almost always, the users will perform and
> prefer the latter.

Which is why I said:

"Obviously, rollovers are meant to obscure info until they are exercised.
But that doesn't render them axiomatically evil. After all, since not
everything in a website/application can all be revealed on the landing page,
a lot of stuff is by definition is hidden by one design/architectural ruse
or another: menus, rollovers, frames, pages, sections, etc."

The choice is not between what's visible and what's hidden or if visible is
preferable. Duh, obviously you'll prefer and perform better with what's
visible. But it's impossible to have everything always visible everywhere.
Just not practical. So, as a designer, you always try to balance what has to
be hidden, one way or another, and what's *indispensable* for navigation,
interaction, emotion, etc., and must therefore be visible at all times.

Figuring that out is the Designer's job. But only in context. It'd be sad if
a young designer's lesson from all this is to always opt for the visible,
because, as I said, in many situations that's just not practical. You have
to engage in triage. Conversely, making something visible does *not*
guarantee success, effectiveness or performance. Usually knowing the context
does. 

(Incidentally, the archives of this list should be littered over many years
with my rants against menus and why I haven't been using them for 15 years.
:-)

----
Ziya

Usability >  Simplify the Solution
Design >  Simplify the Problem