Re: Comments on dialog proposal

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

Michael Rogers wrote:
> > But there are lots of other examples where time is important. Consider me
> > changing my mail forward address in the preference dialog of my mailer,
> > then waiting with hitting "OK" and first searching the systems
> > administrator in the office because I want to ask him if what I've entered
> > in the dialog is correct. Maybe he's already out for lunch and I'll have
> > to wait. When he comes back he says "no, that's a non-existing address".
> > My mail was pointing to a non-existant address during that time, and my
> > mail has been bouncing, even though I never touched "OK" to apply the
> > settings.
> 
> But would you be any less confused if the button said 'Close' instead of
> 'OK'? You still wouldn't know that your changes had been applied
> already, because 'Close' doesn't give you any clues about when your
> changes will take effect.
> 
> The problem here isn't the 'OK' button. The problem is that a text box
> in an instant-apply dialog is inappropriate if it's important to know
> exactly when changes will be applied (as in your examples). Are the
> changes applied as you type, or when you Tab to another widget? If the
> former, your email address will be nonsensical while you're typing it.
> If the latter, the change might not get applied until you close the
> dialog, if you forget to move the keyboard focus to another part of the
> dialog (which is easy to overlook).

Good point, but I think it's a different issue, and anyway it wasn't the
problem I was trying to point out. You could just as easily make the
example a simple checkbox called "Use forwarding" or "Delete all
incoming mail" (or "Launch nuclear weapon";). A user could experiment
with these and (correctly according to most existing user interfaces)
believe that these will not take effect until "OK" is clicked, if there
is an "OK" button.

Regarding your first comment: Yes, a "Close" button alone does not
necessarily tell the user that settings are implied instantly when using
the dialog the first time. It doesn't explain when settings are applied,
but on the other hand it doesn't lie about it either, which I think is
even more important. It just tells what it actually does (which is
closing the dialog).


Christian