[Qt-interest] Need to show a menu item with disabled look butfunctional

[Oliver.Knoll at comit.ch]

livubuntu at lalescu.ro wrote on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:11 AM:

> ...
> You are right, I am a bad designer. These disabled options are risky
> to use and I want the user specifically to enable them from Settings
> menu. That is the reason. And I want the user to know that he can
> enable the item. If he clicks on a disabled item, he will get a
> message box explaining that he needs to activate the option. 

I would /never/ try to click on a disabled item! In my bloody experience nothing happens when you do so (I tried that the last 20 years with a gazillion of applications ;), so why bother? But maybe that's just me ;)

Another possibility would be to introduce an "Expert Mode" (aka "Some Like It Hot"-Mode) and "Normal Mode" (aka "Whatever-I-Do-Don't-Blow-Up"-mode). These modi could be switched via a Settings dialog entry - the same place where you would currently expect your users to enable these dangerous actions - or via a toolbar/menu option (more accessible) or wherever.

In the "Normal Mode" you would render these actions completely /invisible/ (nut just disabled, as not to confuse the users - "why are they disabled? how can I enable them?" etc.), whereas in the "Expert Mode" you would make them visible.

Just a suggestion.

Cheers, Oliver
-- 
Oliver Knoll
Dipl. Informatik-Ing. ETH
COMIT AG - ++41 79 520 95 22