“Drag and Drop” it Like it’s Hot
Trend: Drag and drop
This may be another case of the web world catching up with the desktop world, in terms of interaction, but Drag and Drop interfaces are another UI trend that’s starting to popup in a lot of places. While it can be useful for customization, the interaction can sometimes feel a little clunky. There’s also the problem of calling out the interaction… i.e. letting the user know that they can drag an item, and where it can be dropped. There’s good patterns and bad patterns.
We recently spoke with rapper and blogger Lil Wayne on the subject of Drag and Drop interfaces, and here’s what he had to say:
UITrends.com: “Lil Wayne, what is your view on Drag and Drop?”
Lil Wayne: “Word, call me Weezy. You got to Drag before you Drop. And after you’re through, you better drop it like it’s hot!!!!”
UITrends.com: “So Weezy, you would say that as a UI trend, Drag and Drop Interfaces supply an interaction that is both useful and intuitive to the user?”
Lil Wayne: “…”
UITrends.com: “Weezy?”
Lil Wayne: <hangs up phone>
So obviously, Lil Wayne loves Drag and Drop Interfaces… how do you feel about ‘em?
References:
Disambiguity
Yahoo UI Library
note: I did not actually talk to Lil Wayne… but I did find a Lil Wayne look-a-like who loved this post… ok, not really, I made that up too.
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Vote on this trend:
+16 (18 votes)
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Tags: design pattern, drag and drop, interaction, interface, lil wayne, weezy
- Categories: Trends
Jeff Noble
Aug 28, 2009
3:32 pm
For those not familiar with Lil Wayne… some of his design work can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTF6N7EWzOA
Hans
Aug 29, 2009
12:28 pm
[quote]So obviously, Lil Wayne loves Drag and Drop Interfaces… how do you feel about ‘em?[/quote]
for those familiar with ui design, its not a question of love or hate, its about picking the right tool for completing a task. that said, i have the feeling that d&d is used mostly in context of customization, which is questionable according to
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/customization.html
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Aug 29, 2009
3:43 pm
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John
Aug 29, 2009
4:00 pm
I have my issues with D&D. just from personal experience when directing someone to do something on a computer and you tell them to drag something some place… ouch. First they have this confused look about the word Drag, and secondly most users ’skills’ add precisely dragging an icon or menu item are .. well .. bad.
This ranks right up there with, “oh, ya, just right click on that”. User response: “Do what now?”
However it seems to have its place. Arranging object in a spacial sense user tend to understand. The most obvious use we all know is moving windows around. And while most user dont consider this D&D the basic usability behind it is the same. Also icons on the desktop. Though there are Lots of users who have never moved them, this may be a function of the fact that some desktops have auto-arrange / snap to grid turned on.
This is of-course why apple for so many years resisted the two button mouse. right click can be “confusing”. Its mostly the fact that there is rarely a visual indication of the fact something can be right clicked on. heck most of the time its hard enough to tell when something can be clicked on (at least the web has made some steps toward fixing that … blue / underlined )