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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: OK/yes
From:       Derek <fountai () hursley ! ibm ! com>
Date:       1999-09-17 9:07:20
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> The user should not be forced to read.

Please, tell me you're joking...

> The UI is a block between the user and what he wants done, If guessing is
> his game, allow him to do that.

Well, OK, but I'm not writing that into any of the user interface
guidelines I produce. "The user might want to guess at what you (the
programmer) are trying to ask or tell them. Try to make your dialogs as
guessable as possible." No way! Dialogs should be clear, unambiguous and
to the point. If that makes them hard to guess, then being guessable has
to suffer.

> > > Print file?
> > > [Ok]  [Cancel]
> >
> > Why not Yes/No?
> >
> See top line, ok cancel is historic, yes no is new. There is no signifficant
> difference between them, stick to the old one.

There is a difference. The second one answers the question. The first
one doesn't. Ask a simple question, provide simple answers.

> > > Read error:
> > > [retry] [ignore] [cancel]
> >
> > Crap message, buttons could be better:
> >
> >   There was an error reading from the disk.
> >      [Retry] [Continue anyway] [Cancel]
> >
> agreed, it was 00:30 when I wrote this ;-)

Fair enough... :-)

> > > Shure to remove dir X and everything it contains?
> > > [OK] [Cancel]
> >
> >   Deleting directory XXX will also delete everything it contains.
> >               Are you sure you want to do this?
> >                          [Yes] [No]
> >
> Agreed, I say we put a vote for this YES NO sjit. I am getting tired of people
> not coming up with arguments, just saying what they think.
> 
> I vote for  OK/Cancel. agains YES/NO (this does not include the verbs thingy)

Well I wrote the original "Dialog: Contents" proposal; if you, or anyone
else wants to write counter proposal, do so and mail it to Peter (if
he's still working on this project). He'll link to it as an alternative,
then a decision can be made as to which is best, hopefully by people who
understand HCI.

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