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Peter wrote:
> Jan Henning wrote:
>
>> The first thing you should try, IMHO, is to get the developers to do it
>> right. 'Right' in this case is that any reasonable expectation the user
>> has should be fulfilled, and if the user wants to open a directory, he or
>> she can reasonably expect to be able to do so in either half of the window.
>
> That is the sort of thing that leads to bloated code. Suppose a decision
> is made that the user should also be able to get the desired result with
> a mouseOver as well as a right click. etc.
The problem of code bloat is overhyped, IMHO. We have fast processors and
enormous hard drives these days. A little code bloat is a small price to pay for
good usability. (www.joelonsoftware.com has some interesting comments on this
issue.)
To take the directory example above: that's a scenario where using Windows over
the years has taught the users they can open the folder from either pane. If you
have an application that looks like Windows Explorer but doesn't behave like it,
your users are going to keep bashing into a wall. That's much worse than code
bloat.
Christine
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