Re: [Usability] Ordering thread relit; visual cues

[Calum Benson <calum benson sun com>]

James Henstridge wrote:

> BTW, as far as the argument about moving buttons goes, I seem to
> remember that when adding more buttons than just ok and cancel, Windows
> lays them out as:
>                                       [ blah ] [  ok  ] [ cancel ]
> 
> So that ok and cancel maintain their positions.

Actually, the Windows UE guidelines are all over the place on this.  If
you look at the supposedly "good" examples even on just three
consecutive pages in the Dialog Boxes section of the book (pp235-237, if
you have it), the five examples there have the buttons laid out as:

|____________OK Cancel New Folder_|  (Default = OK)

|                       Find Next |  (Default = Find Next)
|                          Cancel |
|_________________________________|


|_____________Print Cancel Apply _|  (Default = Print)


|_______________OK Cancel Printer_|  (Default = OK)


|_Network...____________OK Cancel_|  (Default = OK)

The only actual Windows guideline that is given for the placement of OK
and Cancel buttons was "if you use the OK and Cancel buttons, group them
together".  It then has the audactiy to say "the user will expect the
default button to be in the conventional location"  :o)

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
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