Re: [Usability] Escape Closing Dialog

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Tue, 2005-12-13 at 15:50 +0000, Joachim Noreiko wrote:

> But they don't do the opposite.

Depends how you look at it.  I have an instant apply and an explicit
apply dialog.  In both cases, I open a window, make some changes, then
change my mind and (by force of habit) hit Esc to cancel out.  In one
case my changes will have been reverted, in the other, they will have
been applied.  As far as I'm concerned, I've performed two identical
sets of actions, but with opposite results.

For the OP or others who, by their own admission, "don't care" what the
buttons on a dialog say, this subtlety can be lost.  Having Esc work
consistently for one type of window but not the other helps to reinforce
this required difference in interaction.  (Others, as we know, just see
it as an annoying hindrance.)

> If a dialog with a Close button needed a button to
> discard changes, (Eg, Desktop Background, which
> changes immediately), it should be labelled 'Revert'.

Yes, it should.  Few such dialogs currently do, though (possibly because
the relevant discussions never did settle on the best model).

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Group
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems