Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

lukew.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 241 posts

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#41

Post by LoSboccacc »

mkagenius wrote: post #30
vortico wrote: post #21

>4 tap operation Click dropdown, select item >Stepper Click +, click +, click +, click +, click +, click +, click + wut

Lot of the advice in the article would fail in some situations like the one you point out. Unless the quantity is less than 5, tap to increase doesn't make sense. Also, the slider wouldn't work in case you are trying to choose from an even average sized list on "min" or "max" side. There are only so many pixels in portrait mode and my big thumb - how can you expect it to be so precise. While in case of the dropdown i…

most of the page doesn't make sense. in at least every sample of 'good pattern' there is also an implicit dropdown, whether airport name autocompletion, calendar, something about being in sale and pre market in the search filters...

the whole page basically contradicts itself.

yes the bad UI has a fugly stile sheet. that doesn't make the good UI any functionally better, especially because you can still see a shitton of places where a drop down is essential.

the only real improvement is that the date picker is one dropdown instead of three, but I don't think that warrants a whole blog page XD

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#42

Post by Klathmon »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #37
Bahamut wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But forces the user to make more inputs and adds cognitive overhead. I think you'll find that many users would disagree with you.

Why not support both methods? Chrome lets you type, or use a calendar picker (which itself has flaws, but at least they're trying ...)

I don't know of the specifics on this one, but in the UI/UX world it's rarely a good idea to "support both". They generally lead to bad looking UIs that "almost" work for everyone, but aren't a good fit for anyone.

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#43

Post by 0942v8653 »

cbaleanu wrote: post #40
deanclatworthy wrote: post #7

There is a small irony that when reading an article about mobile UX, the website has disabled zoom meaning I can't actually see any of the images in the article.

Chrome on Android has a very useful setting to force zoom. Go to Settings - Accessibility - Force Enable Zoom - Profit :) Not sure if Safari has something similar though.

Here's a bookmarklet you can use to enable zoom:

    javascript:m=document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D');m.content=m.content.replace(/.*(width=%5B%5E,%5D+).*/,%22$1,maximum-scale=10,minimum-scale=0.1,user-scalable=1%22);
I found it on HN a while ago, I wish i knew where. To add it bookmark another page then go into bookmarks edit mode and change the URL to that.

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#44

Post by bite_victim »

deanclatworthy wrote: post #7

There is a small irony that when reading an article about mobile UX, the website has disabled zoom meaning I can't actually see any of the images in the article.

Yes, the internet is full of these so called experts. How do they end up being upvoted here is telling about the quality of the average reader unfortunately.

Sorry if I am hurting feelings here but it is true. You have to be a special flake if you think this is quality content. So please, go ahead with your reactions, they speak volumes about who exactly is the gross of HN.

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#45

Post by brudgers »

GUI's embody micromanagement as a virtue. GUI's in general should be a last resort. Computers are supposed to do our work automatically. Barring that, by delegation. Making rounded corners and gradients is easier than making something useful. that's why it gets so much attention.

NoGUI.

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#48

Post by douche »

hit8run wrote: post #47

Would be good if the browsers could offer more sane styled default elements. Why do I have to create a iOS like switch myself!? This is so often needed and a classic checkbox is not sufficient from UI perspective.

What's wrong with a checkbox? We've been using checkboxes for a hundred years at least, between computer and paper forms, before this "switch" concept became popular.

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#49

Post by el_duderino »

0942v8653 wrote: post #43
cbaleanu wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome on Android has a very useful setting to force zoom. Go to Settings - Accessibility - Force Enable Zoom - Profit :) Not sure if Safari has something similar though.

Here's a bookmarklet you can use to enable zoom: javascript:m=document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D');m.content=m.content.replace(/.*(width=%5B%5E,%5D+).*/,%22$1,maximum-scale=10,minimum-scale=0.1,user-scalable=1%22); I found it on HN a while ago, I wish i knew where. To add it bookmark another page then go into bookmarks edit mode and change the URL to that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9414599

Re: Dropdowns Should Be the UI of Last Resort

#50

Post by [deleted] »

0942v8653 wrote: post #43
cbaleanu wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome on Android has a very useful setting to force zoom. Go to Settings - Accessibility - Force Enable Zoom - Profit :) Not sure if Safari has something similar though.

Here's a bookmarklet you can use to enable zoom: javascript:m=document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D');m.content=m.content.replace(/.*(width=%5B%5E,%5D+).*/,%22$1,maximum-scale=10,minimum-scale=0.1,user-scalable=1%22); I found it on HN a while ago, I wish i knew where. To add it bookmark another page then go into bookmarks edit mode and change the URL to that.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN