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The browser select-multiple widget works like that because that's how it's worked in most desktop OSs since Macintosh System 1.0 in 1984 (at least). It's been s
by thristian 5y ago
The browser select-multiple widget works like that because that's how it's worked in most desktop OSs since Macintosh System 1.0 in 1984 (at least). It's been simple and predictable and easily learned for decades, calling it "borderline unusable" is just hyperbole.
Now, if you wanted to say that HTML's standard widgets should be allowed to reflect the platform-native look-and-feel (for example, adding a "selected" checkbox on touch-screens, or supporting long-press to select items, or whatever) instead of being tied to Windows 95 appearance and behaviour by backwards-compatibility concerns, then yeah, I'd agree with that.
- cameronh90 5y agoIt's "borderline unusable" because the vast majority of people who use computers probably wouldn't know how to select more than one item. There are no affordances and virtually nothing uses it any more. Even in the early desktop era when it was popular, many non-enthusiasts probably just didn't know how to use a UI control like that. It just didn't cause a problem because most people didn't use computers much. I would bet that most internet users today have never even used a UI where that control is popular.
- swiley 5y agoIf you're that worried "<p> hold shift to select more than one item.</p>" isn't a whole lot extra to add and is something most people can handle.
- mikepurvis 5y agoProbably wouldn’t be a great fit for touch or screen reader interfaces, though.
- swiley 5y agoTouch screen OSes usually have their own implementations.
- blacktriangle 5y agoWhich frankly is the best argument FOR using the built-in multiple select, since the custom widgets often fail on touch.
- fermuch 5y agoSome users don't know what key "shift" refers to.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- cameronh90 5y agoYou think people actually read what's on the screen...? Never done tech support I take it!
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y agoSo how do you expect them to use your product if you strawmen them as people incapable of reading?
- nkrisc 5y agoBecause they’ll only read what they believe is essential to their goal. Small text below a form element does not scream “critical” it doesn’t get read. I’ve watched many users use websites: they only read what they think is important and skip everything else.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y agoPartly that's because they've been trained to ignore things by people putting too much irrelevant bullshit on everything, but I digress. There will always be idiots, there will always be people who missed something, and there will always be people who refuse to try and figure anything out themselves. But, if we keep designing for these people then everyone else has to suffer because of it.
- beaconstudios 5y agoA good designer designs for reality, not their ideal head canon of how people /should/ behave.
- userbinator 5y agoNo, we should stop dumbing down UIs to the lowest common denominator because that's how you get user-hostile software that treats users like sheep to be herded and monetised. The less you encourage learning and self-improvement, the less it will happen.
- motioncuty 5y agoHow do I do it on my phone or tablet?
- jrochkind1 5y ago"* Command-key on MacOS that's the one that that has a ⌘ on it btw" "‡ On a phone or tablet or whatever, ignore us, we're just confusing you."
- innocenat 5y ago> It's been simple and predictable and easily learned for decades, calling it "borderline unusable" is just hyperbole. And it's also completely not discoverable. I only know how it works when I read from HTML book back in the day. Just because it was the standard doesn't mean it's easily learned.
- LeifCarrotson 5y agoI agree that calling it borderline unusable, when it works great for power users on the desktop, is hyperbolic. Unfortunately for those power users, Digikey, one of the best electronics distributors and also one of the best examples on the web of parametric catalog search, recently disagreed, changing from the classic and highly functional control/shift + click to select multiple to a weird click and drag/click and repeat paradigm.
- miohtama 5y agoAn order of magnitude more users are more familiar with iOS and Android than Mac System paradigms from 80s.
- CRConrad 5y agoThose "Mac System paradigms from [the] 80s" are also the Windows paradigms from the 1980s to the 2020s. Still "an order of magnitude" more users more familiar with iOS and Android than that? I doubt it.
- miohtama 5y agoAndroid alone had 2.8 billion users in 2020, so I do not understand what kind of rationale can possible lead to think this is less than PC and Mac users.
- CRConrad 5y agoAh. So when I thought I was saying 2.8 billion isn't "an order of magnitude MORE" than the surely at least a billion people who've used Windows at some point in the last three and a half decades, I was actually saying "2.8 billion is less than at-least-a-billion"? Funny, that's not what I thought I was saying. If you absolutely have to put words in my mouth, please make them at least a little less stupid ones. Maistuivat vähän paskalta.