Re: Tips on what to avoid

[sun <as387 yfn ysu edu>]

Preben Randhol wrote:
> 
> * Horacio J. Peña/sl/wo
> | ¡Hola!
> |
> | > >- Dialog boxes with only "Yes" and "No" buttons should be avoided.
> | > >Try to use "OK" and "Cancel" where possible.
> | > Why not verbs? "Some files have changed: Save / Discard" (or "Save / Cancel")
> 
> Agree, but Cancel can be ambiguous. Like:
> 
>  You have not saved your work!
>  Before you exit would you like to:
> 
>    <Save>  <Discard>  <Cancel>
> 
> here Cancel will result that one does not exit the program. I'm not
> sure if this is a problem though.

this i agree with, although i'm afraid that in my experience there will
_always_ be a little ambiguity to work around. i just had to teach a few
dozen non-computing halfwits at work how to do a simple table in an
earlier version of word for windows, and am convinced now more than ever
that sometimes you just have to buckle down and accept that some things
_won't_ always be perfectly clear, even in the best-designed user
interface, so a little instruction and rtfm'ing is _always_ necessary.

i am, as most of you know already, a big believer in only sending your
computer verbs as commands. ("ok" tells your computer absolutely
nothing; "save" and "discard" are very clear in comparison.) however, in
the example you give above, and in light of the fact that some parts of
computers always _will_ need clarification, i propose the addition of
this sentence to the gnome style guide:

the "cancel" choice in a dialog box shall always mean, "exit from the
current dialog box and return to the state from which this dialog box
was called with no changes to the active
[document|picture|game|whatever]."

if this is one of, say, three arbitrary sentences that must be learned
absolutely by a new gnome user, i'd say we're already beating microsoft
and apple for ease of use, even with those three concessions. :)

as always, your opinions please!

--
"Whoever saves one life saves the whole world in time." --Talmud