Re: [Usability] Placement of "Don't ask me again" checkbox in dialog windows

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Richard Atterer wrote:

> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 15:04:49 +0200
> From: Richard Atterer <richard list03 atterer net>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] Placement of "Don't ask me again" checkbox in dialog
>     windows
>
> Hello,
>
> please CC me on replies - thanks!
>
> AFAICT the current HIG do not discuss whether/how to place a checkbox "Do
> not ask me this question again" in dialog boxes. The most popular way to do
> it is like this:

The reason the HIG does not discuss it is because it is recommended that
you avoid this question entirely.  Perhaps with a more specific
description of the circumstances we could recommend a way to avoid needing
to ask the question at all?

> 1) Once the "don't ask me again" was selected, it is usually not obvious at
> all how to re-enable the respective dialog box. I have no solution for
> this... Maybe at least the HIG could provide suggestions what the
> respective preferences section should look like?

I'd suggest a big Reset button at the very least, providing a way to
"restore to factory settings" rather than telling user to delete the
rc file is a good start.

> 2) The dialog is confusing; it asks for two decisions at the same time, and
> the less important one ("don't ask again") comes last, i.e. closer to the
> point where the user makes his decision.
>
> I've seen this fail in real life while looking over someone's shoulder; to
> make matters worse, the dialog's buttons were labelled "Yes" and "No", and
> it became obvious the user clicked on "No" because he meant "No, don't ask
> me about this again." To complicate things further, the "don't" and the
> "No" button are a double negation, so the user completely misread the
> dialog.

(Don't blame the user)

> To make the dialog work better, the following could help:
>
>  - Don't use "Yes" and "No" buttons. This is already addressed by the HIG -
>    but I'd even go as far as deprecating the standard Gnome Yes/No buttons.

>  - /Maybe/ use a positive sentence, not a negated one - for example "Keep

The HIG already recommends non-negative menu lables, Show not Hide so this
would be in keeping with the HIG.

> go for 2) - what do you think?

I really think it is better to think how to avoid asking the question at
all.  Is the message really worth bothering the user with, could it
perhaps be put in the status bar or provided in another less obtrusive
way?  Without specifics it is really hard to say what is best.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan.

PS Jigdo looks interesting, snappy name too
http://home.in.tum.de/~atterer/jigdo/
from the screenshot I see you are using a button labelled only with '...'
it is better to use a word usually 'Browse...'