Re: Gnome style guide

[Michael ROGERS <M Rogers cs ucl ac uk>]

>>  In most cases the safest option will be "Cancel". How about 
>> making the default button the one which is most convenient for the 
>> user - in most cases "OK". This avoids having to switch from 
>> keyboard to mouse to select the OK button, or alternatively having 
>> to Tab/Alt-Tab around the dialog until you stumble across the "OK" 
>> button.
>
>Hmmm.. Dialogues with words like OK and Cancel really do come
>from the school of bad User Interface.  Buttons should be labeled
>with a purpose.

True, although OK and Cancel are common and generally understood. My 
point was that the default should be the button which confirms or 
completes the request rather than the one which cancels it.

> What does OK mean?

It means, like, yeah, sure, whatever.

>Better to have a Cancel / Save pair of buttons for example.  Worst 
>case ever, which is far to common are the Yes/No/Cancel options.  
>Whats the obvious difference between No and Cancel??

To use a common example, "Save before exiting? Yes/No/Cancel": Yes 
means save and exit, No means don't save but exit, and Cancel means 
don't save or exit. I generally understand Cancel to mean "Pretend I 
never made the request I just made, and get rid of this dialog without 
changing anything." However, you can make your button smaller if you 
just label it Cancel.


 - Michael Rogers