This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by Danno Ferrin. Original Post: Conflicting UI requirements Feed Title: And They Shall Know Me By My Speling Errors Feed URL: http://shemnon.com/speling/archives/cat_GUI.rdf Feed Description: Danno Ferrin's Many Reasons he was a Comp Sci Major and not an English Major Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by Danno Ferrin Latest Posts From And They Shall Know Me By My Speling Errors

Here's another entry in the mutually exclusive UI requirements file:

If all the items in a menu are unavailable, do not make the menu unavailable. If the menu itself is still available, users can display the menu and view all its (unavailable) items. Similarly, if all the items in a submenu are currently not available, do not make the original menu title unavailable. [ Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines (emphasis added)]

If all items in a menu are disabled, disable its menu title. If you disable a menu item or its title, the user can still browse to it or choose it. You should include a status bar message, balloon tip, or other context-sensitive Help support indicating that the command is unavailable and why. If you use a status bar message, display it when the input focus moves to the corresponding item. [ Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers from Microsoft (emphasis added) ]

What sucks more is when you get a bug assigned saying that your app should behave one way after you've sepnt time explicitly coding it to behave the other way...