For every URL my boss types h t t p : / / w w w . whatever.com
When was the last time you needed to type "http://" 1997? |
I don't remember EVER typing that part. I'm personally partial to the way Firefox does things; using ctrl+enter for .com, shift+enter for .net and ctrl+shift+enter for .org. It's fucking brilliant! For example:
slashdot (shift+enter)
This assumes it's not in the genius bar of course. Sad thing is, most people don't use the suggestion thing, let along the enter shortcuts. In fact, most people I know have no idea they can even do ctrl+enter, let alone any of the other shortcuts. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone here pipe in saying "that's awesome, I had no idea!" Sadly, only Firefox has the other shortcuts, but even IE does ctrl+enter.
Really though, sit down and watch anyone else use a computer. It's infuriating and you're left wondering how the hell they get anything done. Opening new windows, typing full URLs, clicking and dragging scroll bars when their mouse has a wheel, clicking close buttons and new tab buttons instead of using shortcuts... on and on.
Back to the topic at hand, that's one of the reasons I hate flash sites so much. They brake all normal and accepted conventions and confuse the shit out of users. Scroll bars and select boxes are a good example of things that are normally done wrong on flash sites. I'm iffy on DHTML site menus too since most of them are written very poorly and disappear too easily or stay there too long, but those are something I like to think most users have gotten used to now.
I also think it's important to push the boundaries of design too, otherwise the "user" will never evolve. Sure, something might be tricky for them to figure out now, but in time, they'll all come around (DHTML menus are a good example of that I think). But, it's also important that you don't confuse the user just for the sake of doing so; your design still needs to make sense...
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no fat chicks
