A practical note on UI's
I like nokia phones. Interface-wise the are the best. They have a menu-numbering scheme. If you wanna move to Message -> Erase Messages -> All Read on a 6310i for example, you can do it by pressing the left blue button and then typing 01, 8, 1.
Numbering the menu entries of a software program is an excellent trick. I mean ACTUALLY putting numbers in front of the menu captions. It helps communication with customers. It simplifies bug reporting. It even helps you write a great manual with on-screen, visible references.
My boss used to do this in his old-day MSDOS programs. Everybody thought it was a great idea, so we are trying it again.
Drawbacks: if you are in the habbit of reordering menu entries, you are done for.
Numbering the menu entries of a software program is an excellent trick. I mean ACTUALLY putting numbers in front of the menu captions. It helps communication with customers. It simplifies bug reporting. It even helps you write a great manual with on-screen, visible references.
My boss used to do this in his old-day MSDOS programs. Everybody thought it was a great idea, so we are trying it again.
Drawbacks: if you are in the habbit of reordering menu entries, you are done for.
1 Comments:
Hmmm. Found your latest blog...
I'm a bit skeptical about your suggestion. It is helpful indeed, I can see some benefits. It may work with Nokia phones and it may have worked in the old DOS (or even CPM) days. But I honestly believe that its drawbacks render it impractical for modern software (read "large and diverse" here). It's not about whether you decide to reorder your menu entries. What if you add or remove functionality?
Unless you write software that is going to be released only once and never be upgraded, I believe that adding numbers to menus is more of a burden.
Remember that Nokia's numbers are for a relatively "narrow" user interface with screen-size restrictions and most importantly it gets translated to about 100 languages - numbers really help here. What is more, it is unlikely that Nokia will ever upgrade or reorder the menu of a particular phone model. They'll just move on to the next model where changing the numbers doesn't really harm anybody.
My advice: think "software life-cycle" first.
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