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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Standard questions and answers
From:       Derek <fountai () hursley ! ibm ! com>
Date:       1999-09-15 10:41:01
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> OK and Cancel are nice standard answers that are very obvious.  Sometimes,
> instead of making the possible answers better fit the question, it makes
> more sense to make the question fit well-defined answers.

Not at all convinced about your argument...

Are you saying "These are the answers, now find a question to fit them"
is a good idea? I think not. Surely "Ask the question you want in the
clearest possible manner and provide unambiguous answers" is better?

> For example, I
> often ask something like
> "What you are about to do could cause a temporal distortion.  Choose 'OK' to
> continue."
> The knee-jerk reaction is to hit 'Cancel', and it works.

You've given an example of why your argument is flawed. Your prompt is
*telling* the user what to do! This shouldn't be necessary. Why have a
dialog which is so complicated the user has to read and understand an
explanation of how to use it?

I would favour "What you are about to do could cause a temporal
distortion. Are you sure you want to do this?" Then give "Yes" and "No".

> The difference I think is that on the one hand, the user has asked to do
> something...  You aren't asking if they want to quit, because (duh), they
> just said that!  It's a warning and a chance to back down.  Yes/No only
> makes sense when you are asking the user if they'd like to do something they
> *didn't* ask about.  So, 'No' means "No, I don't want to do that, stupid",
> while 'Cancel' means "Oh, well, forget it then."

I honestly can't see any logic in this at all. Why does Yes/No only make
sense when you are asking the user if they'd like to do something they
didn't ask about? What if they chose the option accidentally? What's the
difference between "No, I don't want to do that" and "Forget it then",
except that the first makes perfect sense in a GUI and the second
doesn't?

> "Would you like a beer with that pizza?" -> "Yes/No"

Looks fine...

> as apposed to
> 
> "You're going to get a beer if you order pizza." -> "OK/Cancel"

A badly phrased message, just like I'm pushing to avoid. What does
"Cancel" mean in response to "You're going to get a beer if you order
pizza."? Cancel the beer?

Surely:

"You're going to get a beer if you order pizza. Do you want to continue
with your order?" Yes/No.

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