[JonoMarshall]

Saw this a while back and felt that the ideas/interface when you don't have to click things to be very rewarding and intuitive (after a little adjustment).

Touch screens, iPhones, Microsoft surface... I guess I just feel that clicking is losing its 'edge', good for accuracy but not for much else?

See what you think:

http://www.dontclick.it/

[design219]

A roll over action is not new, and I find it annoying. I like to use my curser to keep me oriented on a page, but I can't do that with this set up.

What does it say about us when we are so lazy that a click is too much?

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by design219 

A roll over action is not new, and I find it annoying. I like to use my curser to keep me oriented on a page, but I can't do that with this set up.

What does it say about us when we are so lazy that a click is too much?

It's not about laziness, it's about trying to improve interface design.

[JonoMarshall]

But if anything a click is too little? For me, the circling/stroking buttons felt more rewarding as I had the time to consider actions and flow from one thing to the next. (Slow movement style interaction in some ways?!?)

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by JonoMarshall 

But if anything a click is too little? For me, the circling/stroking buttons felt more rewarding as I had the time to consider actions and flow from one thing to the next. (Slow movement style interaction in some ways?!?)

It's just an experiment... They're not saying that this way of doing things is going to take over the world, they're just exploring alternatives. Even though this may be too extreme an implementation, we may still learn useful things from it.

[mdc]

I don't think it improved the page's interface design. If I wanted to get from one section to another that wasn't adjacent to where my cursor was various animations started flying around the page, and on some occasions the link I was moving to had moved because of the animation, and I had move to a different location on the page.

I don't see it in a global interface design because accidentally moving over the wrong object is just too easy. How annoying would it be if you were typing this post and then accidentally nudged the mouse over the back button, or the close button?
I played with the gestures but I think those are just a solution for a problem which never needed to be fixed in the first place.
The only way I can see it working is if interfaces were completely redesigned to work with mouseovers. Objects would have to be large and spaced out.

All in all, I can't see it working, and in my opinion, that website did not do a good job of convincing me that the click should be replaced with the mouseover.

[nonhuman]

Might work really well if touchscree/multitouch becomes more ubiquitous.

[besson3c]

I believe that interfaces like this work depending on the target size of the area invoking the mouse over.

With large target areas you have easier navigation but more false positives, with smaller target areas you have slower navigation but few false positives.

Something like a menu bar at the top of the screen may work well with this sort of interface if the items are spread out enough. Something like filling out a form would probably be a disaster.

The problem associated with accidentally typing data and leaving a page is minimized with an AJAX driven interface where this information can be saved. The problems with pure AJAX interfaces lie with search engines and clients without Javascript runtime engines.

This is a neat idea, and I believe it may work in some capacity, in the right circumstances.

Don't be too quick to generalize and dismiss this idea altogether.

[shifuimam]

Touch surfaces still require clicking - as in, you touching the surface. You can't just hover your hand over it and it knows what you're doing. The lack of precision there would be crazy - imagine trying to use Photoshop or Illustrator like that, or even Excel.

Also, since when did using a computer have to be "rewarding" to the user? Computers were originally for getting work done - not for surfing the 'net and chatting. While their use has since expanded greatly, it's silly to expect a computer to make you feel better about yourself. Get a dog if you want that kind of feedback.

Using a mouse + keyboard is very productive to anyone who uses one on a daily basis. I can touch-type very quickly - if a keyboard were replaced with some kind of touch-sensitive input device, my productivity would go down.

Not to mention the lack of accessibility for disabled people - if you just knock your mouse pointer (or your hand) over the wrong thing, it submits before you have a chance to say "no, that was a mistake". That alone is a big benefit to clicking to confirm things...

[JonoMarshall]

Also, since when did using a computer have to be "rewarding" to the user? Computers were originally for getting work done - not for surfing the 'net and chatting. While their use has since expanded greatly, it's silly to expect a computer to make you feel better about yourself. Get a dog if you want that kind of feedback.

Too true, why should we bother to innovate or make life more enjoyable/pleasant for everyone involved when we can simply enter the world, breathe some ass gas into the engine of life and dutifully die?

[Eug]

That page is quite irritating to navigate.

[iREZ]

Originally Posted by Eug 

That page is very irritating to navigate.

fixenated

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by Eug 

That page is quite irritating to navigate.

Originally Posted by iREZ 

fixenated

[cartman]Well screw you guys, I'm going home[/cartman]

I liked that site, took a short time to adjust to not clicking, and mousing over everything, but once I got it it was great stuff.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by JonoMarshall 

Too true, why should we bother to innovate or make life more enjoyable/pleasant for everyone involved when we can simply enter the world, breathe some ass gas into the engine of life and dutifully die?

That's not quite what I was getting at. It's the idea that your computer can make you feel better about yourself or "reward" you. It's a computer, for crying out loud. I don't want my computer to make me work harder so that it can "reward" me - I want my computer to do what I want, when I want, how I want. That's the best thing about using a computer - you, as the user, are in control. If I want a rewarding experience, I'll go tutor underprivileged kids in the hood, or adopt a kitten, or have a baby. I'm not going to turn to my computer for emotional satisfaction.

The term "rewarding" when used with the concept of using a computer just seems a little fruity to me, that's all.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ajprice 

[cartman]Well screw you guys, I'm going home[/cartman]

I liked that site, took a short time to adjust to not clicking, and mousing over everything, but once I got it it was great stuff.

Well, I think they used too much zoomingallovertheplace just for the sake of it. It's annoying, sort of like the many other overly complex flash pages of yesteryear.

[Eriamjh]

I hate it. I prefer controlling when a page goes apeshit with animation, not having it automatic just because I accidentally moved over a selection. Yuck!