Re: [Usability] Close buttons on instant-apply dialogs

[Gregory Merchan <merchan phys lsu edu>]

On Thu, Jan 03, 2002 at 03:49:40AM -0800, George wrote:
<snip>
> You are saying the user must know that an instant apply window is a 'utility
> window' and not a 'dialog'.  That is akin to making sure that the user knows
> that your database is implemented as a linked list rather then as a hash, and
> making the interface different to show this difference.

No. I have said many time that this is not the case and that this is not
what I am saying.

What may have confused you is that one of the reasons the windows should look
different is because they behave differently. Dialogs and alerts do not act
on the rest of the environment until some sort of OK or Cancel command is
issued. If the window looks like a dialog then the user knows, from previous
experience here, that he can change anything in the window safely and at his
leisure because nothing will change unless he clicks OK.

Every environment described thusfar that has presented instant-apply windows
has presented them without Close buttons.