Comments on: The Skinning Trade-off http://arapehlivanian.com/2008/04/24/the-skinning-trade-off/ Web Standards, Web Culture, Web Everything.™ Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:01:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Luke Maciak http://arapehlivanian.com/2008/04/24/the-skinning-trade-off/#comment-40217 Luke Maciak Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:21:11 +0000 http://arapehlivanian.com/?p=382#comment-40217 Well said. I ran into the same set of issues when my boss decided he wants to have a 3-state check box (checked, unchecked and unavailable/grayed out). I had to hide the actual elements, then use JavaScript magic to replace them with images on the fly, and react to clicking. Keyboard navigation was lost, and the whole system would fail if you were using a screen reader or a browser without JS enabled. In the end it worked out because it was an internal app used only by certain employees. Well said. I ran into the same set of issues when my boss decided he wants to have a 3-state check box (checked, unchecked and unavailable/grayed out). I had to hide the actual elements, then use JavaScript magic to replace them with images on the fly, and react to clicking.

Keyboard navigation was lost, and the whole system would fail if you were using a screen reader or a browser without JS enabled. In the end it worked out because it was an internal app used only by certain employees.

]]> By: Sarven Capadisli http://arapehlivanian.com/2008/04/24/the-skinning-trade-off/#comment-40206 Sarven Capadisli Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:46:04 +0000 http://arapehlivanian.com/?p=382#comment-40206 Not the mention the responsiveness will never be as good as the native support. No brainer, but, one plus that comes with skinning native browser elements is actually improving the UI visually (invoking certain emotions yadi yadi yada) and have it more consistent with the rest of the page design. Usability vs. Emotions - There is a trade off at some level. Not the mention the responsiveness will never be as good as the native support.

No brainer, but, one plus that comes with skinning native browser elements is actually improving the UI visually (invoking certain emotions yadi yadi yada) and have it more consistent with the rest of the page design. Usability vs. Emotions - There is a trade off at some level.

]]> By: Jonathan Snook http://arapehlivanian.com/2008/04/24/the-skinning-trade-off/#comment-40202 Jonathan Snook Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:07:30 +0000 http://arapehlivanian.com/?p=382#comment-40202 In my presentation at FOWD last year, I talked about this very topic. For every action we look to override, we have to work harder to replicate all the functionality that it used to have. Not just for mouse users, but for keyboard users, and for screenreaders. You have to have a pretty good business justification for breaking a user expectation and "it looks cool" isn't one of them. :) In my presentation at FOWD last year, I talked about this very topic. For every action we look to override, we have to work harder to replicate all the functionality that it used to have. Not just for mouse users, but for keyboard users, and for screenreaders. You have to have a pretty good business justification for breaking a user expectation and “it looks cool” isn’t one of them. :)

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