Re: Options and choises rant

[Chris B. Vetter]

On 1/15/06, Dennis Leeuw <dleeuw@made-it.com> wrote:
> Richard Frith-Macdonald wrote:
> > PS.
> > I've read that research suggests 7 items as a maximum that people (in
> > general) can readily keep in mind, so even a menu with ten items is
> > probably longer than desirable.
> Nice... didn't know that. My girlfriend initially suggested 5, which I
> thought was way too little... but apperently I should have listened. She
> was much closer to the 7 then I was... :)

She's right, sort of.

Seven items max is when it comes to remembering. Especially when it
comes to differing items, eg. 2 spoons, 3 knives, 1 fork and 1 plate.

Five items max is related to what people can recognise at once / with
just a glance, without having to start counting. Eg. take a couple of
dices, roll them and have people tell you how many *dices* you used.
If it's six or more they will have to count (usually "that's 5 plus...
one, two, three... 8 dices in total")

--
Chris