[wp-design] Styling form elements

[Joen Asmussen]

Shock, horror indeed! I completely disagree, not just a little, but I'm 
on the totally opposite end of your argument.

The very essence of my argument for not styling the form elements is end 
user platform consistency, consistency, consistency. That means not 
having to "learn" new styles for the most basic of elements: input boxes 
and push buttons.

A Mac user will know what an input box looks like, and what a push 
button looks like. This end user couldn't care less if it's part of the 
Wordpress brand package, he/she just wants it to work. Stylized input 
fields will look "non-OS-like", even if it they great.

If the user is on a foreign system, he/she will have to learn how to 
start a browser anyway, that browser containing OS styled input boxes 
and push buttons itself. To this user, it'll make sense that the 
Wordpress input boxes and push buttons are not different than from the 
browser itself (even if it's a foreign browser), so as to not confuse 
them with images.

I'm a designer myself, I completely understand why you would want to 
style the horrible Windows form elements, (especially Luna is bad). But 
I cannot see this as a decision that will benefit the end user in any 
way, it will instead sacrifice a little usability in favor of style.

If it is the verdict of this crowd that the forms should be stylized, 
let it be a conscious decision to favor style over usability. I cannot 
support such a decision, but I will of course accept the verdict and 
still support the Shuttle project in any other way I can.

But I don't buy this argument :)

J


Michael Heilemann wrote:

> Hah! I'm working on the PSD now, and I've come up with a reason for  
> styling, even ever so slightly, the form elements:
>
> So that WordPress looks exactly the same on all browsers.
>
> This makes good sense, as it's a 'portable' publishing platform, and  
> it would actually make it _easier_ for people to use when on a  
> foreign system!
>
> Shock! Horror!
>
> :P
>
> - Mike
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>


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Joen Asmussen

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