Re: Comments on dialog proposal

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

On 05 Sep 2001 23:46:47 +0100, colin z robertson wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 05, 2001 at 11:14:42AM -0700, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> > I understand that you were confused in the case you describe. I think
> > in time users will be less confused when instant-apply settings
> > dialogs become the norm (they will assume all settings apply instantly
> > unless some signal says otherwise).
> 
> I must confess, while reading through this entire thread I have been
> mystified. And thoroughly so. I am mystified by two things: Firstly,
> by the assumption that instant-apply dialogs will become the norm, and
> secondly, by the belief that they should become the norm.
> 
> Apple have recommended instant-apply dialogs for MacOS X, have they
> not? But Apple are not Microsoft, and 10% market share is not 90%
> market share. So why will this make instant-apply the norm?
> 
> Furthermore, Apple are not infallible. I can see plenty of potential
> problems with instant-apply dialogs, and not a whole lot of
> advantages. So why do we want them to become the norm?

I see one primary advantage, which is the obviation of "preview"
elements. Why should I have to either guess or have some sort of preview
pane to figure out what a preference is going to do? We want our
preferences to be easy to explore, that will encourage users to try
things and learn more about their software with minimal effort.

For example....why preview the background image in a tiny thumbnail in
the background capplet when you can just change the damn background
itself? If the user doesn't like the change they can press undo, or just
change to another image.

I don't think we are going with this because OS/X is doing it. Actually,
in the general case I hope we are making choices for ourselves, and
using other systems as references into what other people have considered
good in the past. Its very helpful to read things like the MacOS/X HI
guidelines to get the *reasoning* behind decisions too. But in the end
we have to make the choices ourself....otherwise why don't we just
decide we are creating Microsoft Windows and be done with this whole UI
process?

-Seth