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The design guidelines I wrote for disabling vs. hiding controls <https:/
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In general, you should *disable* a control if it is unusable or irrelevant to the current situation, but there is something the user could reasonably do to make it usable/relevant — for example, changing the value of another control, selecting something, or connecting to the Internet.
You should *hide* a control altogether if it is unusable or irrelevant to the current situation, and there _is not_ anything the user could reasonably do to make it usable/relevant — for example, if the feature can’t work with their hardware, or if it is for editing a message that has already been sent.
What counts as something a user could “reasonably do” is subjective. You might also hide a control if it would normally be disabled, but it is likely to be highly distracting, or if space is at a premium. For example, an image formatting toolbar might appear only when you are editing an image, hiding at other times.
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A PC with no vibration motor falls squarely into the category of “the feature can’t work with their hardware”, so you should hide the control in this case. Specification updated. <https:/