Re: [Nautilus-list] Allowing view components to provide editing (UI and architecture issues)

[Maciej Stachowiak <mjs noisehavoc org>]

On 03Aug2001 02:36PM (+0100), Calum Benson wrote:
> Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> 
> > | The Text Viewer has unsaved changes for the file      |
> > | /tmp/hit-list.txt. Save before changing locations     |
> > | to "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gnobob";?                |
> > |                                                       |
> > |              [ Yes ] [ No ] [ Don't change views]     |
> > |                                                       |
> > +-------------------------------------------------------+
> > 
> > The wording in these dialogs is a very rough cut (Darin, Andy, or any
> > other usability experts lurking on this list, do you have suggested
> > improvements?) Also, I'm not sure if offering three options is best
> > here.
> 
> Putting aside the wider usability issues of being able to edit text in
> the preview pane or not, it's usually a poor idea to have "Yes" and "No"
> buttons in a message box.  So you'd probably want something like:
> 
> 	You have made changes to filename.txt.  
> 	If you want to keep them, you must 
>         save this file now.
> 	[Save] [Don't Save] [Cancel]
> 
> Or, if you want to be consistent with the more Mac-alike button ordering
> that's been proposed for 2.0, rather than with the rest of Nautilus:
> 
> 	[Cancel] [Don't Save] [Save]
> 

Incidentally, I just tried this on MacOS X and I get something like this:


            foobar.txt
--------------------------------------------
Do you want to save changes to this document 
before closing?

If you don't save, your changes will be lost.

[Don't Save]      [Cancel] [Save]


The "If you don't save..." line is in a considerably smaller typeface
and there is a bigger gap between "Don't Save" and "Cancel" than
between "Cancel" and "Save". I'm not sure why but this layout and
wording seem a bit more clear to me. Perhaps the phrasing makes it
clear the Cancel cancels the closing and not just the Save, and
explicitly explains what "Don't Save" does. Overall it makes it look
like the two normal options are "Save" and "Cancel", and "Don't Save"
is a secialized separate choice.

And finally, I'm not sure it's so smart to change around the button
ordering for 2.0. Whether Cancel is on the left or right is pretty
arbitrary, and changing midstream on users is likely to cause mistakes
among those who have developed habits about which button is where,
don't you think?

 - Maciej