[Usability]Re: Comments on dialog proposal

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

Adam Elman wrote:

> Maciej mentioned the primary advantage, IMHO: why have an extra
> button click to make something happen?  It's unnecessary complexity.

The disadvantage, just to counter the argument, can sometimes be
feedback and response time.  Even the simplest setting can take three or
four tenths of a second to apply under some circumstances (it takes
about two seconds to apply a background change on my GNOME desktop, for
example-- fortunately that capplet offers a preview facility).  But
generally if the user doesn't get any sort of feedback within a couple
of tenths, the system begins to feel sluggish and unusable.  

Having to change three or four settings in a dialog under these
circumstances is a bit of a chore, especially if you know what you want
to change them to in advance.  Being able to change them all quickly
with no visual feedback (other than on the control you've clicked)
usually feels quicker, even though the delay when pressing the OK button
is usually just the same as the combined delay in an instant-apply box. 
(Although it can actually be quicker in some cases, if the dialog is
smart and the settings allow it-- e.g. changing a bunch of style
settings that are handled internally as a single bitmask).

Cheeri,
Calum.

P.S. Sorry I haven't been contributing much to all these discussions,
I've been out of the office since Wednesday and I'm still catching up...

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson ireland sun com    Desktop Engineering Group
http://www.sun.ie                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems