Re: [Usability] Repeated Apply/OK, should it be allowed?

[Kalle Vahlman <kalle vahlman gmail com>]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 21:43:30 +0000, John Spray <jcs116 york ac uk> wrote:
> I would appreciate any thoughts on the following issue.  When in a
> non-instant-apply dialog with OK/Cancel/Apply buttons, should the
> OK/Apply buttons be sensitive in the case of there being no user changes
> to commit?

I think no, since cancel has stronger mental connection to "do
nothing" than ok/apply.
 
But that goes only if nothing really happens when apply is pressed.
For changes that affect time-managed objects (namely, anything that
stores a modification time), applying could mean "touching" the
target, changing the modification time. This could be valuable in some
applications where it triggers an update for other parts of the app
(like for example 'make'). This would not be a common situation
however, and probably better hanled by a dedicated UI, so I still
would say no.

-- 
Kalle Vahlman, zuh iki fi