Re: [eclipse-dev] The "Yes, No, Always, Never" Dialogs

[Alvin Thompson <al@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

can i mod responses down here? :)

Jeff McAffer wrote:
> Yes, No, Always, Never?!  So harsh, so cold, so absolute.  How could I 
> ever answer "Never"?  How do I know?  There are movies about this!  
>
> What about "I'm feeling lucky"?  Perhaps the most popular application on 
> the planet uses it.  If we are going to follow the industry, we should 
> seriously consider pervasive use of "I'm feeling lucky".  Just imagine 
> the possibilities...
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
> *Douglas Pollock <douglas.pollock@xxxxxxxx>*
> Sent by: eclipse-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> 04/06/2004 04:08 PM
> Please respond to
> eclipse-dev
>
>
> 	
> To
> 	Eclipse Developers Mailing List <eclipse-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> cc
> 	
> Subject
> 	[eclipse-dev] The "Yes, No, Always, Never" Dialogs
>
>
> 	
>
>
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> Recently, different Eclipse teams have been adopting a style of dialog that
> uses four buttons in the button bar at the bottom.  These buttons are: Yes,
> No, Always and Never.  I believe this style of dialog to be overly wide, 
> and
> somewhat divergent from the de facto standards arising in the industry.  
> There is also an unclear semantic with the "X" in the title bar to close 
> the
> dialog.
>
> In other applications, such as Mozilla and Konqueror, there is a check box
> provided which says something to the effect of "Remember my decision".  By
> combining this check box with a "Yes" and "No" button, the dialog only 
> needs
> to be two buttons wide while capturing the same combination of possible
> responses.  This is also similar to the prompt that appears when exiting
> Eclipse.
>
> These dialogs are also missing a clear cancel semantic.  It is possible 
> that
> the user did not know that the action they triggered required answering a
> question.  The user might not have the information required to answer the
> question immediately -- needing instead an opportunity to return to the 
> main
> application.  When a modal dialog is open, this is not possible.  In most
> cases, a "Cancel" option would be preferred -- allowing the user to stop 
> the
> action entirely.  This gives them a chance to consider their options.
>
> Also, some of these dialogs treat closing them using the "X" in the 
> title bar
> as a "No" response.  In general, I would suggest that closing the dialog 
> with
> the "X" is actually an attempt to cancel the action entirely.
>
> So, in summary, I'm recommending the following 3 things:
> 1.) Replace "Yes/No/Always/Never" dialogs with "Yes/No/checkbox" dialogs;
> 2.) Add a "Cancel" button to most, if not all, of the dialogs; and
> 3.) That "X" should alway means "Cancel".
>
>
>
> d.
> _______________________________________________
> eclipse-dev mailing list
> eclipse-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> To change your delivery options, retrieve your password, or unsubscribe 
> from this list, visit
> http://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/eclipse-dev

--
Alvin Thompson

Navy: 34
Army: 6