4 ms·

> That's what tooltips are for. Tooltips, and the forgotten art of ellipsis, promising a dialog instead of a potentially destructive action. I've met UX design

> That's what tooltips are for. Tooltips, and the forgotten art of ellipsis, promising a dialog instead of a potentially destructive action. I've met UX designers that have never heard of them.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Oh yes, the ellipsis. As the self-proclaimed member of the Order of the Ellipsis, I use every opportunity available during UI design sessions to ensure this knowledge isn't forgotten. (BTW, I know for sure that pattern is a thing on Windows. Does MacOS follow similar guidelines here?)
- n3k5 7y ago
  2019: "The ellipsis character (…) means a dialog or separate window will open and prompt the user for additional information or to make a choice." https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/menus/menu-anatomy/ https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline... 2005: "An ellipsis character (…) after a menu item indicates to the user that additional information is required to complete a command. http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/APPLE-Guidelines-2005.pdf http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenote... 1995: "The ellipsis character (…) after a menu item means that the command needs more information from the user before the operation executes." http://interface.free.fr/Archives/Apple_HIGuidelines.pdf http://interface.free.fr/Archives/Apple_HIGuidelines.pdf 1987: I couldn't quickly find a PDF I could link to (on archive.org it's "currently on loan"), but AFAICT it says essentially the same thing. So the guidelines are super consistent. How strictly they've been followed is a more difficult question. Here's a screenshot of GS/OS (to which the 80s version of the HIG is supposed to apply) where they got it wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_GS/OS#/media/File:AppleIIGSOS.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_GS/OS#/media/File:AppleI... Ditto on Macintosh System 1: https://archive.org/details/mac_Paint_2 https://archive.org/details/mac_Paint_2

> That's what tooltips are for. Tooltips, and the forgotten art of ellipsis, promising a dialog instead of a potentially destructive action. I've met UX designers that have never heard of them.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Oh yes, the ellipsis. As the self-proclaimed member of the Order of the Ellipsis, I use every opportunity available during UI design sessions to ensure this knowledge isn't forgotten. (BTW, I know for sure that pattern is a thing on Windows. Does MacOS follow similar guidelines here?)

n3k5 7y ago
2019: "The ellipsis character (…) means a dialog or separate window will open and prompt the user for additional information or to make a choice." https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/menus/menu-anatomy/ https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guideline... 2005: "An ellipsis character (…) after a menu item indicates to the user that additional information is required to complete a command. http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/APPLE-Guidelines-2005.pdf http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenote... 1995: "The ellipsis character (…) after a menu item means that the command needs more information from the user before the operation executes." http://interface.free.fr/Archives/Apple_HIGuidelines.pdf http://interface.free.fr/Archives/Apple_HIGuidelines.pdf 1987: I couldn't quickly find a PDF I could link to (on archive.org it's "currently on loan"), but AFAICT it says essentially the same thing. So the guidelines are super consistent. How strictly they've been followed is a more difficult question. Here's a screenshot of GS/OS (to which the 80s version of the HIG is supposed to apply) where they got it wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_GS/OS#/media/File:AppleIIGSOS.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_GS/OS#/media/File:AppleI... Ditto on Macintosh System 1: https://archive.org/details/mac_Paint_2 https://archive.org/details/mac_Paint_2