Re: [Usability] Instant Apply Windows

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

tor 2002-01-03 klockan 12.26 skrev Gregory Merchan:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > In the interests of fostering some more direct discussion on the topic, here
> > is what I consider to be a reasonable compromise. Please follow up with
> > arguments as to why *this particular idea* may be suboptimal, inaccessible,
> > unusable, etc.
> > 
> > [ I don't think it's necessarily perfect, I'd just prefer to see discussion
> > on concrete ideas rather than random musings and flame. ]
> > 
> >   +---------------------------------------+
> >   | My Crackrock Settings             _ X |
> >   +---------------------------------------+
> >   |                                       |
> >   |   [ ] Goat-inspired                   |
> >   |   [ ] Monkey-inspired                 |
> >   |   [ ] Pants-inspired                  |
> >   |   [ ] HP-inspired                     |
> >   |                                       |
> >   |   [ Help ]                 [ Done ]   |
> >   |                                       |
> >   +---------------------------------------+
> > 
> > Things to note: available WM buttons, help and done (same style as
> > dialogues).
> 
> This is not a compromise. This is what those of us who have looked into
> common practice and have observed users in action are against.

No, we're not against it. "Look into common practice and observe users"
and you'll see that there are a significant number of users that are
really confused by dialogs/preference windows with no obvious way to
close them.


> A button labelled "Done" is still a Close button because that is the command
> it issues.
> 
>   (Unless, of course, a Done button is supposed to mean,
>    "Now accept my changes."; in which case this is not an
>    instant-apply window, but instead a rather bizarre
>    dialog in that it has not Ok and Cancel buttons.)

A Done button is supposed to mean "I'm done with my changes".
There really is no extra danger of confusing it with a traditional
OK/Cancel/Apply non-instant-apply preference window unless you don't
read button labels at all, or notice that the number of buttons and
groupings of buttons is entirely different. The only thing you
accomplish by removing all buttons is removing the obvious way to exit
the window for many users, and make the window harder to navigate for
other users, not bringing some extra mysterious "clarity".


Christian