Don't confuse your user by changing conventions or standards.

Rich internet applications allow companies to enhance websites with a variety of widgets-- icons such as buttons, checkboxes and sliders that initiate actions.

But websites that modify the conventional behaviors of widgets can cause confusion. For example, users visiting the Kayak.com Flight Finder site have trouble operating the slider widgets that appear in the left-hand corner of the image displayed below. Conventional sliders contain one tab that users can click on and drag across a timeline or ruler. Kayak's site introduces sliders with two tabs that users can adjust from either end of a timeline. The "double tab" approach confuses users because it modifies conventional slider behavior.

The bottom line: cater to users' comfort levels-- if an icon looks like a slider, users expect it to behave like a typical slider.