(continued from Design Transition to Windows XP, Part 1 )
One of the remarkable things about this new operating system’s user interface is that there are very few innovations in the interaction with the machine. Those changes that are included are quite minor, and seem to be driven by idioms that have emerged on the Web.
Control States
We have all become used to graphics and links changing appearance when you hover the mouse pointer over them in your browser. This is called roll-over. In addition to roll-over, links can change their appearance while you press them (before the mouse button is released). This is sometimes called the active state.
Windows XP controls have added these appearance changes for the OS and desktop applications as well. They had appeared in applications like Word in recent versions as well, particularly in toolbars, but now they become first class behaviors of most controls.
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| Buttons | Radio Buttons |
Some of the effects are quite subtle. I haven’t actually run WinXP yet to see how this feels in action. My initial reaction is that the effects had better be subtle, or they will be too distracting.
Notice that the Macintosh also supports the hover state in OS X. I don’t know if there is an equivalent appearance change for the active state.
(to be continued…)
