Good User Design Hides "Mistakes"

Good user design helps users along when they make a "mistake." Ideally you never know there was an issue.

In older versions of SDL Tridion, (IIRC) double clicking a component to create a component presentation for a page or to select a linked component would open the item. Trainers had to be careful to instruct trainees to first select the item, then click insert.

I was about to explain that component linking in SDL Tridion 2011 now stops this automatic open and instructs you to click insert, but I actually see these two message (SDL Tridion 2011 SP1-HR1):

Seen when double-clicking a component in the selection pop-up for linking to a component.

Seen when double-clicking a component to add to a page.

If you didn't notice the change, you likely never used R5.3 (possibly 2009?).

Technically it might make sense to match the list behavior in the item select dialogue to the list behavior in the Content Manager Explorer (CME).

Double-click means open, right?
No, double-click means "I want this one" in the context of the selection pop-up.

Which reminds me of an insightful elevator button design in some of the tall buildings in downtown San Francisco (and I'm sure elsewhere). I was about to press "1" to get to the ground floor.

"No, it's 'L' for Lobby," my colleague explained. Being KnewKnow, of course he was right...

...And so was I.

Technically, the elevator didn't need to explain that both the "L" and "1" go to the same bottom floor. For the cheap cost of an additional button, "users" from countries where floors start at zero don't need to worry about the difference. Dutch and Portuguese elevators are zero-based, for example.

Sometimes, "it just works" means your interface breaks the rules of logic or your preferred standards. Context matters and if your user struggles to do the right thing because of some expectation, help them along and explain what's happening if you can. 

Better yet, don't even let them know there was a mistake.

Update: double-clicking a Component (with a template selected) now creates a Component Presentation in Tridion Sites 9.0 and later.