a) The window widgets have a one pixel black border that does not respond to clicks ( or provide visual feedback within the widget ). That pretty much sucks.
b) Supporting invisible click regions is bad. Users will no longer be able to predict if a click is going to initiate an action. Widget designers who create click regions that are too small, or a full of holes/one pixel bits, should be shot. Click regions need to be big, and visible.
c) Rather than having invisible click regions, widgets should provide tactile feedback. That is, the widget should attenuate the motion of the mouse. As you mouse over a widget you will 'feel' it bump on the widget. This could be a border effect, or an all over widget effect. This effectively increases the size of the widget, without increasing its on screen real estate. The attenuation of the widget can also be relative to the velocity of the mouse.
I have read about research into these sorts of feedback systems, in particular there was some work done on it when the first force feedback mice were released.
Comments
b) Supporting invisible click regions is bad. Users will no longer be able to predict if a click is going to initiate an action. Widget designers who create click regions that are too small, or a full of holes/one pixel bits, should be shot. Click regions need to be big, and visible.
c) Rather than having invisible click regions, widgets should provide tactile feedback. That is, the widget should attenuate the motion of the mouse. As you mouse over a widget you will 'feel' it bump on the widget. This could be a border effect, or an all over widget effect. This effectively increases the size of the widget, without increasing its on screen real estate. The attenuation of the widget can also be relative to the velocity of the mouse.
I have read about research into these sorts of feedback systems, in particular there was some work done on it when the first force feedback mice were released.