Why do we have that lever?

The Emperors New Groove is Disney Animated Movie from 2000. It's clever, witty, funny and stars the voices of David Spade, John Goodman and Evil Johnny from News Radio (Patrick Warburton). In other words, how can you go wrong. One of the recurring gags in the movie is when Yzma, the ursurper to the throne, urges her henchman, Kronk, to "pull the lever!" in variably he, does it's the wrong lever resulting in plunging Yzma into crocodile filled waters to the shreik of "wrong level" and the invariable question of "why do we even have the lever??" Visual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw2B9knw58U

The same principle can be applied to UI. If you don't want your users to do something, don't LET them do it. If you don't want them to click buttons before they are ready, don't activate it. If there are are options that will break the app, don't present the options.

If presenting a three year old with the option of playing with blocks, a stuffed animal or a blowtorch, they will invariable eventually (first?) choose the blowtorch and if they get hurt whose fault is it? Yours for giving them the option in the first place. Your users are not stupid or child-like but many times they are navigating a world (or a page) for the first time and they don't know the rules or what the buttons do. They also don't read warning labels, text or directions. We know this so plan accordingly.

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