Re: intelligent dialogs

[Owen Cameron <nemo nethouse goldweb com au>]

On Wed, Aug 09, 2000 at 07:45:48PM -0700, gavin hurley did utter:


> The Mac style tends to label the buttons according to what they do ([Don't
> Save] [Save] [Cancel]). The dialog text still explains the situation but the
> user usually doesn't have to expend much effort to figure out what to press
> to accomplish her goal.

On a semi-related area... 

One of the nicest UI ideas I've seen for a while was something I noted on a
Mac program (Might have been Nortons?) where the dialog box came up as you'd
expect, but if you hit the mac Option key, the button text changed to show
the keyboard shortcut needed to activate that button. (pretzel-s for save,
esc for cancel, etc)

For a keyboarder like myself, this was a great idea. I might have taken
special note of it since the Mac is usually so mouse oriented. 

I don't know how easily the implementation would be in GNOME, since the
buttons dynamically resized to add the extra shortcut info...  It's an idea
I've always remembered though and would love to see become a little more
commonplace.

Of course, to play my own devils advocate, the windows style of "underline
the relevant letter" is easier to implement, easier to use in different
places (menus), and thus maintains a certain level of consistency. (that I
happen to find it hideous, and the dynamic-change method nice and simplistic
is probably more personal taste ;)

.../Nemo                                             email:<nemo@net.house.cx>
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