Re: property dialogs

[Toshio Kuratomi <badger prtr-13 ucsc edu>]

I like the tweak+Apply approach as well, but can't offer
any arguments aside from the ones you've covered.  Maybe
later when I'm not so tired.

> 
> Another model-related question: should we bother with Undo?  How
> exactly should the Undo button work?  How many levels of undo?  What
> happens if you apply, close the dialog, and bring it back up again?
> Etc.
> 
Regarding the "Undo" functionality, did you read my post about
there being two meanings for Undo?  I've been thinking about it
in terms of "Unapply" -- that seems to imply that you can unapply
all the changes you've made since you last hit the apply button
and have apply automatically entered as well.

But it could also be Undo my changes.  This is harder because
changes could take place on different pages, so each click of undo
could potentially lead us to another page....

> 
> I definitely think we should try to have property dialogs be
> non-modal.  It really drives me nuts in Windows when I try to find
> some information but first have to dismiss the property dialog (which
> is the reason I went looking for this piece of info in the first
> place).
> 
Here here!  Sanest piece of advice I've read all night :)

> 
> So my own inclination is "tweak and apply", with the default GUI being
> Tim Small's "Apply/Apply+Close/Close" buttons.  I agree that these are
> less confusing than "OK/Apply/Cancel".
> 
I don't know:  I've gotten quite used to Ok/Apply/Cancel meaning
                                Apply+Close/Apply/Close
Changing things like this just has a vaguely wrong feeling in the pit of
one's stomach.  It's kinda like when I was still using MS products and I
used DOS edit all the time alongside Windows apps.  Cut-and-paste keys were
different and Quit/Exit were different.  And that just wasn't right....

This case is somewhat different because you're only changing labels, but it's
somewhat the same as well: These things are Mnemonics that users get used to
looking for.  When they don't see them the way they expect, they get worried.
(There's a psychological term for this which I just forget right now -- maybe
you could ask a web page designer, I think I read it in Things that Make us
Smart)

-Toshio
> Tom
> 
> 
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