Re: [Usability] Re: Button ordering

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

> >  ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >  |                                                              |
> >  |    WARNING: Are you sure you want to format your hard        |
> >  |             drive? This will erase all data on the drive     |
> >  |             including documents and applications.            |
> >  |                                                              |
> >  | [ Help ]              [ Cancel Format ] [ Erase Hard Drive ] | 
> >  `--------------------------------------------------------------'
> 
> If it were up to me, I would do it more like this:
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> |                                                                |
> | [alert]   Are you sure you want to erase volume `My Disk'?     |
> | [icon ]   This will permanently delete all files on `My Disk'. |
> |                                                                |
> | [ Help ]                                  [ Cancel ] [ Erase ] | 
> `----------------------------------------------------------------'
> 
> Rationale:
> 
> * All-caps text like WARNING is hard on the eyes, looks ugly, and
> needlessly alarms users. A suitable alert icon should be sufficient.

It is intentionally hard on the eyes and very alarming. The user is
about to initiate just about the most destructive operation their
computer knows how to do. Note that this dialogue was specifically for
the primary hard disk. Presumably something that formats removable media
would be much less severe. The alert icon is too generic I think, since
many less serious warnings will use the alert icon.

> * Clarity is important, but so is brevity. I would suggest thinking
> "what words can I take out?" when writing UI text, as the GDP does for
> documentation. This goes double for command buttons.

Actually, I would prefer the button to read "Erase My Disk". I think
buttons should be rather specific about what they are about to perform,
it makes the choice easier.

> * It's good to be specific in alerts, hence `My Disk' rather than just
> "your hard drive", which there may well be more than one of. For GNOME
> we may need to say something like "/usr/local" instead of "My Disk"
> when no user-friendly volume name is available.

Good point, I was too closely rephrasing the existing dialogue.

> * The word `permanenetly' emphasizes that this is not like moving
> files to the trash; it is not easily undoable.

yes, good point to emphasize.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------
 |                                                               |
 | [alert]   WARNING: Are you sure you want to erase volume      |
 | [icon ]   `My Disk'? This will permanently delete all files   |
 |            on `My Disk'.                                      |
 |                                                               |
 | [ Help ]                         [ Cancel ] [ Erase My Disk ] | 
  ---------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, this can descend into endless bickering and I think Maciej's
version emphasizes the important points just as well. I think it would
definitely be reasonable to include these examples in the interface
guidelines.

-Seth