Re: [Usability] SM UI plan

[Maciej Stachowiak <mjs noisehavoc org>]

On 13Oct2001 02:39PM (-0700), Seth Nickell wrote:
> > > Using a pull-down menu with deferred application to perform an action is
> > > a blatant mis-application of controls. Controls that may reasonably be
> > > used to perform actions are toolbars, menus (in menubars!), and command
> > > buttons. That is probably the most serious problem with the interface.
> > 
> > hmmm, whatever...
> > seth, no offense to you, but I think the guys at redmond /at this times/ 
> > know a little more about interfaces than you...
> 
> There are people at Redmond that do, this is true, but Microsoft
> actually tends to suffer from much the same problems as GNOME (dominated
> by developers), and has in the past and continues to produce some of the
> shittiest interfaces known to man. 
> 
> The Windows95 use of option buttons with OK is a very awkward interface.
> I suspect it was chosen intentionally to make the user have to pause
> before they performed a potentially regrettable action (a worthwhile
> goal). Non-standard interfaces can sometimes be used to good effect when
> the desired property is to make people think about what they are doing.
> For example, making it awkward to accept a dialogue that will format my
> hard disk is probably a good thing. Using pulldown menus looks more
> attractive but is even more inconvenient, probably beyond justification
> (other than artistic reasoning).

For what it's worth, the Mac OS X version of this dialog has command
buttons for the choices. You get a confirmation dialog if any
application has unsaved data. It seems pretty reasonable to me, and
Apple usually has better UI taste than Microsoft.

 - Maciej