Saturday, August 12, 2017

disable - Should disabled options ever be hidden?



Comments from this question prompted me with this other usability proposal. In my opinion, tt's a bad idea to hide disabled options.


I like to see all the available options regardless whether some are disabled. I don't want to see options appearing and disappearing on me because of certain conditions. I don't want to go "I swear I saw this menu option a minute ago... where the hell did it go?". Don't make me think. When the light bulb burns out, the light switch is still there. In the physical world, things don't disappear in thin air when they switch to a unusable condition.


Addition:


I am not making a blank sweeping statements that ALL options should visible. Obviously if your security role doesn't allow you to see an option you should never see it. I am talking about the same option going in and out in visibility due to actions taken by you.



Answer



I agree with this if the case is the user hasn't met certain requirements to enable the option. Like selecting text.


But I work with a lot of applications where options are disabled by role. In that case, this particular user will never be able to use those options, therefore, they shouldn't be visible to this user.


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