design practice: is it good to hide/unhide controls at runtime

I have always had a bias against controls开发者_Go百科 appearing/disappearing at runtime. I think that I read this somewhere but google is not forthcoming and I've not been successful in finding anything to support my bias in any of the hard-copies that I have. We're having an internal debate as to the validity of this approach and I wonder if anyone can point me to any reference that discusses the topic.

Thanks!

Bo

It probably depends on the situation. In general, controls that magically appear and disappear are probably bad. If they are always present but disabled, the use will know that they can enable them somehow, and they'll look it up int he manual. If the controls are hidden, the user won't even know they're there to look them up. On the other hand, if the UI is already pretty complicated and getting cluttered, and these controls are only used in a very specific context, then it is probably OK to make then appear when necessary, because the user has already started some action which would require them.

The other option to hiding might be to have the controls in floating tool palettes/windows that appear when necessary.

I can't remember an actual refernce to cite though, sorry.

If a using a control is going to produce an error, you probably want to at least disable that control.

Whether to hide or disable, depends on the control. In a standard drop down menu, it probably makes sense to disable, because then all the items are still in the same place.

In general I think your design process should dictate this question. I believe in keeping the interface simple and easy to use. Only the essential information for the next decision should be visible. Disabling controls might be warranted from time to time but definitely not when it complicates what should be the action/decision step.

By creating accurate Use Cases and stepping through the decision process should assist in deciding to hide a control or simply to disable it.