I am starting to prefer comboboxes than textboxes
in [Visual Basic]
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From: MM on 24 Feb 2010 11:10 On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:25:07 -0500, "Jeff Johnson" <i.get(a)enough.spam> wrote: >"MM" <kylix_is(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message >news:qti9o55mkee1r0m1lkt1bk4o3gli2mc42k(a)4ax.com... > >>>>>I admit it will be easier if the items are sorted, but it still becomes >>>>>unmanageable very quickly if the user doesn't know to type and tries to >>>>>scroll (required for freeform values) >>>> >>>> "doesn't know how to type" - how did they manage to boot the PC and >>>> sign on? >>> >>>Not "doesn't know HOW to type," but rather "doesn't know TO type," i.e., >>>"doesn't know he MAY type." Many people think the mouse is REQUIRED to use >>>certain controls, sadly. >> >> "doesn't know TO type" - how does the user become a PC user, then? Or >> do you envisage many thousands of PCs across the world sitting there >> idling away while users sit in front of them, going: "Goodness me, I >> really don't know what to do next!" > >You really won't accept that fact that in the specific case of COMBO BOXES >(which IS what this is about, not the computer in general), some users don't >understand that they can use they keyboard and instead think they MUST use >the mouse? Really? I have worked (I'm retired now) in computing since the days of the 8" floppy. I reckon I've seen quite a few users working in my time. And why would Microsoft go to the bother of providing a combobox with a textbox attached if users were as brain-dead as you imply? Microsoft spends millions on usability testing, and the combobox is as old as the hills. MM
From: DanS on 24 Feb 2010 12:26 MM <kylix_is(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote in news:prjao5t8g9ht9qnhsltatkveqsev5enpma(a)4ax.com: > On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:50:58 -0600, DanS > <t.h.i.s.n.t.h.a.t(a)r.o.a.d.r.u.n.n.e.r.c.o.m> wrote: > >><SNIP> >> >>>>Poorly designed ? That's not up to me to decide. That is the official >>>>list of accepted timezone names according to whatever body that >>>>controls them.... http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm >>> >>> So I have a numeric dropdown list with the range 0 to 127 yet you are >>> coming at me with "the official list of accepted timezone names", as >>> if the poor design of the latter is automatically assumed for the >>> former. >> >>No, that was to show how bad of an idea a long drop-down box is. > > Ah, so it was as I thought: You took one particular *poor* > implementation and attribute badness to all other implementations. Actually, no. I took the example I had just coded in an application two days ago because I still had the text file sitting right on my desktop, and, the only one I knew was a very long list. (And I'm not going to start searching the internet for a program that had long drop-down lists in it, becasue this thread nowhere near worth that kind of effort.) <SNIP> > > Stop Press: I've just taken that Linux list, reversed it so that the > city name precedes the continent, and whacked it into a new Access > database. I've created a form with a combobox, specifying the 'Cities' > table. Bingo! Typomatic out of the box. > > Type in Lon and it completes with London - Europe. Type in Ne and it > completes with New York - America. Press Enter and the correct entry > is confirmed (in the correct letter case, too). Couldn't be simpler. Except that New York - America is not a valid entry. Now after you select that, you need to format it back to America/New_York before you can use it, which is also code that needs to be debugged, documented, and maintained.
From: Shotgun Thom on 24 Feb 2010 12:53 On Feb 22, 9:14 am, MM <kylix...(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > What do others think about replacing textboxes with comboboxes like > this? Actually I think using auto-select comboboxes in this case is fine. I might use an up/down tool for numbers instead but I do agree about the tiny arrow buttons on that type of control. Annoying. While many criticize the use of auto-select combo's for a large data list let me refer you to font selection options in programs like Word, WordPad, Text Tool in MS Paint and dozens of other editors/word processors. I have over 250 fonts registered on my computer and all these programs use auto-select drop downs for font selection. It is handy and fast. If I want to use Tahoma... click in dropdown... type "Ta" and bam... good to go. If I'm unsure of the type font I want I can scroll through the list to sample the fonts. Auto-select combobox is a good choice for your program, MM. Tom
From: Mike Williams on 24 Feb 2010 13:02 "Dave O." <nobody(a)nowhere.com> wrote in message news:u6XjgKXtKHA.732(a)TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > Never forget that almost 50% of people > are of below average intelligence. There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary numbers and those that don't ;-) Mike
From: MM on 24 Feb 2010 13:24
On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:26:35 -0600, DanS <t.h.i.s.n.t.h.a.t(a)r.o.a.d.r.u.n.n.e.r.c.o.m> wrote: >MM <kylix_is(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote in >news:prjao5t8g9ht9qnhsltatkveqsev5enpma(a)4ax.com: > >> On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:50:58 -0600, DanS >> <t.h.i.s.n.t.h.a.t(a)r.o.a.d.r.u.n.n.e.r.c.o.m> wrote: >> >>><SNIP> >>> >>>>>Poorly designed ? That's not up to me to decide. That is the official >>>>>list of accepted timezone names according to whatever body that >>>>>controls them.... http://www.twinsun.com/tz/tz-link.htm >>>> >>>> So I have a numeric dropdown list with the range 0 to 127 yet you are >>>> coming at me with "the official list of accepted timezone names", as >>>> if the poor design of the latter is automatically assumed for the >>>> former. >>> >>>No, that was to show how bad of an idea a long drop-down box is. >> >> Ah, so it was as I thought: You took one particular *poor* >> implementation and attribute badness to all other implementations. > >Actually, no. I took the example I had just coded in an application two >days ago because I still had the text file sitting right on my desktop, >and, the only one I knew was a very long list. (And I'm not going to >start searching the internet for a program that had long drop-down lists >in it, becasue this thread nowhere near worth that kind of effort.) > ><SNIP> >> >> Stop Press: I've just taken that Linux list, reversed it so that the >> city name precedes the continent, and whacked it into a new Access >> database. I've created a form with a combobox, specifying the 'Cities' >> table. Bingo! Typomatic out of the box. >> >> Type in Lon and it completes with London - Europe. Type in Ne and it >> completes with New York - America. Press Enter and the correct entry >> is confirmed (in the correct letter case, too). Couldn't be simpler. > >Except that New York - America is not a valid entry. I didn't create the list, I just used it. >Now after you select that, you need to format it back to America/New_York >before you can use it, which is also code that needs to be debugged, >documented, and maintained. Why does it need to be formatted back? In any case, I really think you're splitting hairs now. This was merely an example, not a study into geographical locations. MM |