RE: Affordances defined

Subject: RE: Affordances defined
From: John Garison <jgarison -at- ide -dot- com>
To: "'Geoff Hart'" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 16:39:13 -0500

The latest issue of InterCom has an article that refers to these as
"embedded help" but I prefer the "affordances" term myself.

John Garison
Documentation Manager
Integrated Development Enterprise, Inc.
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord MA 01742-2174

978.402.2907 Voice
978.318.9376 Fax


-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Hart [mailto:Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 3:38 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Cc: 'jlange -at- oee -dot- com'
Subject: Affordances defined


Jessica Lange pointed out that I'd inadvertently committed jargon: <<What do
you mean by "affordances"?>>

Simplistically, affordances are clues built directly into the interface that
tell users what they're supposed to do. A simple example might be a label
such as "Family name" beside a field in which the user should input their
family name; a more complex example might involve defining the formats
permitted for a date field by providing an example of the desired format
beside the field (e.g., "Enter the child's birthdate (e.g., 01 January
2001)").

--Geoff Hart, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"The paperless office will arrive when the paperless toilet
arrives."--Matthew Stevens




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