OSNews

I know what modal dialogs are - I've done quite some research into the subject for a few articles on OSNews a few months ago. I just represented the modality issue here as a modal confirmation dialog, but the same goes for modal property dialogs or modal windows in general.

They are evil, and must be eliminated from computing and graphical user interfaces. If you think you need to use a modal dialog/window, it probably means that somewhere along the way, you made an error in designing your application.

I'm not saying it's easy (or even possible) to construct a modeless interface for your application, but it should be your goal. Always. "

Sorry Thom, but have done any HCI studies at a real university? Modal dialoges do have their place if used properly.

Even the current Osnews page has so much worse usability than v3 that if I was you, I'd think twice before claiming to be some sort of usability expert.

Here are some of the usability problems of the current site just to name a few.

1. The icons are on the right side of the topics on main page. English is read from left to right and having the icons appear before the text makes it possible to identify the subject before reading the title. Now they are just gimmicks without any clear use.

2. The v3 used colours to distinguish content from navigation and other stuff. The news items were on white background whereas pretty much everything else was on grey background. Currently half of news items is on white and half on grey for no apparent reasons and the white ones blend with the sidebar navigation.

Just to name a few.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the v3 was once mentioned as a good example of using colours in one HCI course I took part.

Edited 2008-02-10 12:47 UTC