LESSON 13

Tabbed Dialog Boxes

Tabbed dialog boxes are dialog boxes that include a row of selectable index tabs along the top, usually just below the title bar. For example, the Regional Setting Properties dialog box for Windows 95 has these tabs: Regional Settings, Number, Currency, Time, and Date.

According to User Interface Engineering, it takes careful design work to overcome built-in problems with tabbed dialog boxes. “Our final judgment on the current generation of tabbed dialogs is that they often cause more confusion than they are worth.”

Tabbed Dialogs: Semantic Minefields
http://world.std.com/~uieweb/tabbed.htm
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Usability Humor

When there’s a lack of it, usability is no joking matter. Occasionally, however, we can laugh at other people’s mistakes under the guise of learning.

:-)

Here’s some usability laughs at the expense of “the big guy,” contributed by a concerned employee.

IF MICROSOFT BUILT CARS - usability humor

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated:  "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating that if GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1.  For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day.

2.  Every time they painted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.

3.  Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to re-install the engine.

4.  Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.

5.  New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.

6.  Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you back in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

7.  GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish by 50 percent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Dept.

8.  Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

9.  You'd press the "start" button to shut off the engine.
 

ERROR MESSAGE:  Press any key to continue or any other key to quit.