Re: [Usability] logout dialog redux

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

On Sat, 2001-12-08 at 21:14, James M. Cape wrote: 
> On Fri, 2001-12-07 at 09:54, Seth Nickell wrote:
> > I'm inclined to say that there shouldn't be a combined logout dialog,
> > but that the functionality should be split between a few menu entries.
> > 
> > Logout
> > Shutdown
> > Restart
> > Sleep
> > 
> > whatever
> > 
> > -seth
> 
> What about just:
> 
> Quit GNOME -> (dialog with buttons for Log Out, Shut Down Computer, &
> Restart Computer)
> Sleep
I think its better to have seperate items for them in the menu. I feel
like menus are a more appropriate choice for displaying multiple
commands. The commonly shown option here (vertical dialog with buttons)
is fairly non-standard, though I don't think terribly confusing. I think
alternative actions in a dialogue should be a fallback to when you can't
actually display the options before the user initiates the action, or
when its more obvious to them that they should initiate a particular
action, and the computer helps them break down exactly what they want to
do. 

In this case I think most users know and are looking to do one of the
specific actions... i.e. I think they are thinking "I want to shut down
the computer" or "I want to restart the computer" or "I want to logout"
not "I want to get out of GNOME somehow".

I should emphasize that the choice should still be confirmed, since most
apps do not properly save themselves (I tried this with Evolution and
Abiword, I lost unsaved changes to a document and a message I was
composing) and don't prompt to save when shutting down like windows
(this is bad, I don't know how soluble the problem is). But the point is
that it should be confirmed since its potentially a rather destructive
operation.

-Seth