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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: DialogBoxes (was: Cookie window popup)
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () mikka ! net ! au>
Date:       2000-09-10 16:59:25
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Thomas wrote:
> 
> The screenshot looks nice, but it will only work for modal dialogs (as
> I said earlier) the rest should be movable windows. Because of that
> it will create inconsistency towards the rest of the dialogs. Which I
> find unaccaptable.

I don't want to say that the Aqua "message box" UI is the right way to
go (I'd like to see it in action for a while first), but I disagree with
your argument about inconsistancy.

Modal dialogs and modeless dialogs *should* look different. They act
different, so why do they look the same? Of course, they should be
similar, but there should be enough visual information that the user can
tell that this particular dialog needs to be dismissed, without getting
frustrated because they can't click on the document window and have it
come to the front.

As things stand now, KDE modal dialogs look exactly like KDE document
windows (except for the content :-). The user has to use trial and error
and rote memorization to determine which dialogs are modal and which are
not. Occassionally there are cases where common sense tells the user
that the dialog has to be dismissed before they can be continued, like
in the case of password dialogs or serious error messages, but - to take
an example from KEdit - why should the Goto Line dialog be modal?


-- 
Steven D'Aprano

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