Re: [Usability] OK and Cancel ordering should be a user setting

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Jamie McCracken wrote:

> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:17:09 +0000
> From: Jamie McCracken <jamie-junk blueyonder co uk>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] OK and Cancel ordering should be a user setting
>
> Hi,
>
> I like the look and feel of GNOME 2.4 very much. However the most
> annoying feature (for a user coming from an MS windows background) is
> the ordering of OK/Cancel and Yes/No buttons in dialogs.

I understand your annoyance.  I got used to it eventually, and know I
think it is really great to have the action button consistantly positioned
on the extreme right.

> What would be great is if the ordering could be user settable. This

I dont know how practical this would be to try and implement however for
the sake of multiplatform GTK applications and nice interoperability for
those who wish to use KDE or other desktops I think this is seriously
worth considering.

Now to convince some developers that it is a good idea and figure out if
it is not too impractical.

> the ordering of OK/Cancel and Yes/No buttons in dialogs.

I know what you meant but the Gnome HIG is trying to get rid of Yes No
buttons by the way.

Rather than asking something like

"Do you want to Save?"
[ Yes ] [ No ]

It is clearer to lable the buttons with the relevant verb so that users
hardly even need to read the fully worded description.

"Do you want to Save?"
[Dont Save] [Save]

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/