[Sigia-l] Rollover Question (Web 2.0)

[Ziya Oz]

Todd Warfel:

> Great design doesn't rely on tooltips.

Neither does it rely on wanton exposition.

The key word here is "rely." What exactly does it mean? What may be
extra/complementary for some users may turn out to be important/crucial for
others, in a given context. (And I'm referring to rollover behavior in
general, not just tooltips or menus.) It's very easy to dismiss this by
saying, don't have a black box as an icon and reveal its purpose only on
rollover tooltip. Duh. But there are far more challenging cases where the
layered rollover info is darn near impossible to reveal in any other
convenient way and provides excellent complementary value for many, and even
crucial value for some. Info layering and progressive disclosure are
fundamental design principles. They can be used for great effect or
misapplied like anything else in life.

----
Ziya

Usability >  Simplify the Solution
Design >  Simplify the Problem