After the right '+' button is pressed the item in that view is added to favorites and an UIAlertView is shown on screen saying "Added to Favorites". After it is added to favorites I make the '+' button disappear so the same item doesn't get added again to favorites. I am not sure if this ok with Apple's Human Interface Guidelines instead should the '+' remain there and if pressed again say "This item is already in favorites"?
Any help will be appreciated! Thanks
I wouldn't use the AlertView for this. By showing the alert, you force the user to confirm reading some confirmation message and taking action (by pressing the OK button). It is a good idea to provide feedback that the favorite was successfully added, but this should not be an intrusive alert. Perhaps you can use other design patterns for favorites, such as a star that lights up when pressed to indicate that the item is listed as a favorite, or perhaps an animation effect that 'moves' the selected item to a visible 'favorites' category.
The Human Interface Guidelines have this to say about the Alert view (in relation to your question):
Avoid creating unnecessary alerts.
These alerts are usually unnecessary
if they:
Merely increase the visibility of some
information, especially information
that is related to the standard
functioning of your application.
Instead, you should design an
eye-catching way to display the
information that harmonizes with your
app’s style.
Why not have two states for the button ? A "selected" state (for example negative contrast) showing the item is in favorites, and a "normal" state indicating it can be taped.
This way you can add/remove from favorite using the same button, and in a less obstructive way than with a UIAlertView.
I also suggest you use a ★ instead of a +
Related
Good Afternoon/Evening/Morning Folks,
I recently encountered a discussion with another developer on dismissing a UIPickerView. We work on a legacy enterprise application that had a lot of issues and was written very poorly (among other things). Since then, we revamped and fixed a lot of bugs with this program, strictly adhering to Apple's Human Interface Guidelines as much as possible while keeping to original requirements.
We seem to have a difference in opinion as Human Interface Guidelines do not really go into any detail about picker views. We implemented our new UIPickerView with a "Done," Button to confirm a selected value to be placed in a UITextField. Screen's input would be locked until they selected a value or clicked done.
Legacy application prior to our changes allowed users to utilize a done button but also by way of tapping a value selected in a picker. In addition, legacy application would also show selected UIPickerView value in UITextField prior to selection, wiping out original contents , if any was selected prior to opening a UIPickerView.
So, What is correct way to implement a UIPickerView per common practice or Strict Apple Documentation (if any exists). What is common practice?
Sorry, I cannot post any screen shots or code snippets due to business process reasons. I will do my best to explain if any questions arise.
Thanks,
We can figure this out through apps designed by Apple. Here are two examples
1. Contacts
Find a contact person in the Contacts app and set birthday. The picker shows up. While you are dragging the pickers, it does not set value to the text field. It happens only when you release the wheel. There is no Done button to hide the picker it self. To dismiss it, you can either click on the done button on navigation bar to end editing for the whole page, or click on another text field which pops a different keyboard.
2.Setting - Date&Time
Basically the same as Contacts app. Here you cannot even dismiss the picker.
(Duplicate of this question, but I figured I could try again, since that one wasn't answered...)
The UISearchBar on the iPhone has an option showsSearchResultsButton. When you turn it on, it shows a button with horizontal lines inside the search bar, and you can implement a callback that will be called when the user presses it.
The thing is, I can't find a single place on the Internet where it says what the intended purpose of this button is. I know I could make it do anything, but I'd like to know what it's actually for. Should it show a history of searches, or all items without filtering, or what?
It's simply to show search results when tapped.
Where Apple uses this is in their iPad App Store application. If you go to the Categories tab you'll see various app categories. Search for an item, you'll get a list of results, and when you press "Done" you are shown the categories screen again. Your previous search term is still listed in the search field, but now the Search Results Button appears in the field. After tapping this, a UIPopOver is displayed, showing a text list of the results from your last search.
I've seen how iphone users delete from lists - its generally a swipe action and then shows some minus/remove button.
I realize that it is counterproductive to implement iphone things on android because android users don't know this stuff.
I don't want to do that, I just don't know of a better/intuitive way to delete from a listview.
I've previously opted for doing "longclicks" on listview items, which will show an alertdialog asking if you want to delete or do other things, but this is never an obvious thing to do.
I've seen delete buttons that are shown in each view, but that messes with the layout of the listview, in a way that wasnt' considered in the wireframes.
What is a good intuitive way to allow the user to remove items from listviews on android?
Here's my two cents before I pitch my answer. Any one who has an android phone is going to know or eventually find out that longclicks often lead to another menu. Yes, it's not immediately obvious but they are going to figure it out just as iphone users have figured out the swipe action is to delete.
If you really want a fool proof way for a user to know how to delete, I would implement checkBoxes. (More on check boxes here)If the user checks the item, bring up a "soft menu" at the bottom that has a bunch of options normally associated with long clicks.
If you look at the gmail application and check a box, you'll see what I mean when I say "soft menu".
Another way you could go would be to implement check box, then have "menu options." Every android user should be able to see and figure out the menu button on their device, all devices have them. Make one of the menu options delete and you're all set.
http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/menu_design.html#options_menu
I agree that long click is horrible, but it is the standard on Android; people are more likely to be able to discover using this than any alternative gesture.
Also, put in a delete menu item on the Activity you get to after selecting something from the ListView.
In my view you should add checkbox to your list view and give a separate button for deleting items from list I mean to say that add a delete button in the layout in which your list view is also present and when user checks the item which he/she wants to delete and click on the delete button,the item which is checked by the user gets remove from list.
I am trying to find the most usable/accessible way to implement a simple form dropdown list which will sort a list of products by pice and alphabetical order.
In your opinion is the dropdown more usable when there is a button that governs its submission or when it automatically submits onchange of the dropdown?
The research I have read is both for and against such methods and there is a variery of implementations on the web so interest to hear the thoughts of the community.
Thanks in advance
As a blind computer user either method works fine. I find that having a button to click is slightly easier for me then the onchange event firing. I wouldn't say it's a big enough difference to take into account though assuming the majority of your users will not be disabled. If your targeting specifically blind users I would not use the onchange event.
So long as you do not change focus or navigate to another page when the selection changes, either approach should work. The classic example of a problem dropdown is where it contains a list of other pages on the site, and navigates as soon as the selection changes. This prevents a keyboard user from using the list; they can't browse it, and can't navigate to any pages beyond the first selection, since it's impossible to navigate past those. So in cases where focus changes or the page navigates as a consequence, having a separate action (eg. Go button, or handling enter) to cause the navigation to take place is essential. This is likely where the advice you've read is coming from.
In this case, however, it sounds as though you are just updating content elsewhere on the page, and not changing focus or doing navigation. Simply resorting existing content should be fine.
Depends on your users and their respective expectations and the context in which it's presented.
As a blanket, general statement, you should have the drop down accompanied by very obvious submission button. That is the safer approach.
If you are refreshing page data or if the focus moves away after the dropdown option is selected, you should use a button to be accessible. If you fire the event on change, blind or keyboard-only users will not be able to use the dropdown menu at all if they are on windows with ie and chrome (so added together, a majority of the people on windows). As soon as they use the arrows to scroll down and make a selection, the first option they hit will be selected and the page data will refresh or the focus will move, making it impossible for them to navigate or select the second option, third option, etc. Below is a thorough explanation with examples so you can see what I mean.
Designers definitely don't like the buttons, but if you are blind and on chrome/ie, it is impossible to use a lot of dropdowns without it. I'm guessing Jared uses firefox or a mac.
http://pauljadam.com/blog/javascript/onchange-event-on-a-select-inputjump-menu-accessibility-problems/
I am compulsive and like visually clean designs.
Theres a pop up in my app that tells the user that there's an error.
I made a clear button over the entire pop up (about 200x100 px) so the user can just touch the notification to dismiss it.
But i'm afraid the user might not know that you can just touch the pop up to dissmiss and would go crazy looking for the "OKAY" button.
Do you guys think the OKAY button is necessary or is a giant clear button overlaying the notification good enough?
note: the whole notification actually looks like a button because of rounded corners and some button like borders.
Whatever users can misinterpret, they will (just look at some of the low ranked App store reviews for examples).
So, unless it clutters your UI and/or makes things even more confusing, a clear indication of how get rid of or move beyond your popup will certainly reduce the chances for any user confusion.
I like the idea of your design, but I would go for an OK button. There might be people in the world who don't understand it and blame your app.
Or you leave out the button and make the notification disappear by itself after, say 5 secs.
Or you could go the Microsoft way:
- add the "Okay" button
- add a smaller checkbox with the caption "don't ask me again"
- when the okay button is clicked and the checkbox is marked, open an additional dialog notifying the user that the Okay button will no longer be displayed, but that they can clear that setting in the preferences menu
- create the preferences menu as described
Now who says Microsoft suck at UI ?
You should use the OK button. Not only will it be more familiar for users, but you won't have any problem with Apple's approval process. Depending on the reviewer they might reject the app for not conforming to the Human Interface Guidelines.