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Problems with zip files as folders.

http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2009/02/09/pitfals-of-the-zip-file-as-folder-metaphor/

by astine • 17 years ago

2 1 17 years ago

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terminally-incoherent.com

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RiderOfGiraffes• 17 years ago

A specific example of a more general pitfall ...

If you're going to use a metaphor to "protect" your users against a morass of petty details, you can't afford to do a half-assed implementation. You have to do a thorough analysis of your use cases, you have to know what you're provoking them into believing, and you have to anticipate (nearly) everything they might do as a result of that belief.

Metaphors assist enormously in usability. Users can become productive very quickly if something looks and behaves in a familiar fashion, but if it's not complete, the users will get confused.

And angry.

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