Re: Comments on dialog proposal

[Adam Elman <aelman users sourceforge net>]

At 4:48 PM +0100 9/5/01, Michael Rogers wrote:
> Christian Rose wrote:
> >  That's actually why I think "Close" is best suited in an instant-apply
> >  dialog. It relates only to the displaying/removal of the dialog, not
> >  whether settings are applied or discarded.
>
> So it's better because it supplies less information? 'OK' indicates
> acceptance of the settings. 'Done' indicates completion of the task.
> What does 'Close' indicate about the contents of the dialog? Only that
> they will no longer be visible.
>
> It may not be obvious that the changes have already been applied (eg
> tooltip, sound card fragment size, password), so the user needs to know
> whether settings are going to be applied or discarded when the dialog is
> closed.

But if the settings have already been applied, "OK" _misleads_ the 
user to think that the settings have not been applied until s/he 
clicks the button.  If the settings have already been made, the user 
should _not_ be "indicating acceptance" of the settings -- s/he has 
already done so by making the settings in the first place.

I agree that we need a better way to make it clear that settings are 
applied instantly, but I think that this approach would muddy the 
difference between instant and non-instant settings application.

Adam
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