Re: Word-a-Day: cancel, stop

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Wed, 2008-08-06 at 16:26 -0400, Curtis Hovey wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-08-06 at 14:28 -0500, Shaun McCance wrote:
> > ============================================================
> > cancel
> > End an operation without leaving any side effects.  Only use
> > "cancel" if the operation can be ended cleanly, leaving the
> > system in the same state as before the operation was started.
> > Use "stop" instead if ending the operation will result in
> > partial effects of the operation remaining.
> > ============================================================
> > stop
> > End an operation leaving some side effects.  Use stop if the
> > operation cannot be ended cleanly, or if ending the operation
> > will leave it partially completed.  Use "cancel" instead if
> > the operation can be ended cleanly with no side effects.
> > ============================================================
> > 
> > We don't currently have recommendations for these in the
> > Style Guide, but this jives with the HIG's recommendation:
> > 
> > http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/feedback-interrupting.html.en
> 
> I think these two words are clear. The definition meet my expectations
> of the consequences of their use. I suspect however that many users will
> not know that 'stop' may leave something in an unwanted state. I don't
> think a more technical word for 'stop' will help since that introduces
> jargon problems. So I believe we need to educate users that 'stop' is
> not a clean cessation of an activity.

The section of the HIG that deals with Stop buttons actually
recommends popping up an alert warning you about the side
effects.  I think doing that everywhere would be annoying
(thinking about stopping a download), but in places where
the effects are particularly dangerous or annoying (partial
file transfers, eg), the alert seems reasonable.

Anyway, I agree with what you're saying, but the place to
make recommendations to help users understand the terms is
probably the HIG, not the Style Guide.

--
Shaun