UI Question
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
Bugger the lot of 'em. Always use verbs to describe the action that will take place when a button is pressed. Okay is not a verb. I prefer "Commit" of "Save" for general dialogs and "Exit" to close it. The reason becomes clear when you have a dialog to close an account, the commit button should be "Close" [the verb of the action] so the no commit action has to be "Exit".
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Bugger the lot of 'em. Always use verbs to describe the action that will take place when a button is pressed. Okay is not a verb. I prefer "Commit" of "Save" for general dialogs and "Exit" to close it. The reason becomes clear when you have a dialog to close an account, the commit button should be "Close" [the verb of the action] so the no commit action has to be "Exit".
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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I think I prefer the Task Dialog approach where you give people better choices. You pretty much chose your button texts with: Close without saving Save and close Save without closing
*pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier
0 - Close 1 - Save and close 2 - Save without closing 3 - Self detonate
"the meat from that butcher is just the dogs danglies, absolutely amazing cuts of beef." - DaveAuld (2011)
"No, that is just the earthly manifestation of the Great God Retardon." - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "It is the celestial scrotum of good luck!" - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "But you probably have the smoothest scrotum of any grown man" - Pete O'Hanlon (2012) -
Cancel: close without saving. Apply: save without closing. Save: save and close.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
+5 on this answer, I don't know what the others have been drinking or smoking, but - Cancel, - Apply and - Close or Save are the common set of buttons you'll find in nearly all applications. "close without saving" "close with saving" How do you want to integrate THAT into an application? What's next? A button labeled "try-out-and-do-not-use-further-more-when-not-working"? I have translations in my applications that make a single word into a complete sentence kind of thingy (Arabic wording, don't ask me why). I don't want to know what a "close without saving" button would do to my layouts...
regards Torsten When I'm not working
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
"Save" and "Cancel". Always use verbs. Having "Close" and "Cancel" without "Apply" does not make sense to me as they are the same. Having both "Cancel" and "Apply" is confusing: will "Cancel" undo an earlier "Apply"?? OK is only OK when the dialog isn't related to a user action (and then it would be the only button, and "Close" would be equally OK). FWIW: I don't like "Apply" much, either it is an inexpensive operation and it should apply immediately (and be undone upon "Cancel"), or it is an expensive one and then it only happens upon "Save". :)
Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
Will the settings have an immediate effect when the user "apply" them ? or does the user needs to close the dialog before they become effective ? Personally, I prefer the simple "Ok" and "Cancel" buttons.
Watched code never compiles.
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+5 on this answer, I don't know what the others have been drinking or smoking, but - Cancel, - Apply and - Close or Save are the common set of buttons you'll find in nearly all applications. "close without saving" "close with saving" How do you want to integrate THAT into an application? What's next? A button labeled "try-out-and-do-not-use-further-more-when-not-working"? I have translations in my applications that make a single word into a complete sentence kind of thingy (Arabic wording, don't ask me why). I don't want to know what a "close without saving" button would do to my layouts...
regards Torsten When I'm not working
There's a reason that the TaskDialog was introduced by MS, and why it provides the option to give more descriptive options. What you have described is a technology-centric view of the world, and may not reflect the actions that users expect. The theory goes that you should be able to drop somebody with no computer experience in front of your application and they should be able to use your application immediately without guidance. Just because we, who use technology every day, know what these terms mean in this context doesn't mean that my father would - and I pick him because he's one of the stubbornest technophobes I've ever met. You can capitalise the word THIS all you like but it doesn't get away from the fact that it's only your opinion that this is correct.
*pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier
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There's a reason that the TaskDialog was introduced by MS, and why it provides the option to give more descriptive options. What you have described is a technology-centric view of the world, and may not reflect the actions that users expect. The theory goes that you should be able to drop somebody with no computer experience in front of your application and they should be able to use your application immediately without guidance. Just because we, who use technology every day, know what these terms mean in this context doesn't mean that my father would - and I pick him because he's one of the stubbornest technophobes I've ever met. You can capitalise the word THIS all you like but it doesn't get away from the fact that it's only your opinion that this is correct.
*pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
only your opinion that this is correct.
Please, sir, me, sir!!! (Frantically waves hand in the air to get the teachers attention). I think so too!!! :-)
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
I use OK and Cancel. I generally don't like Apply -- like Luc, I expect a Cancel to undo an Apply. For an app I've been working on I have a Settings (modal) dialog with OK and Cancel. The dialog does not set the settings, it does not know what they mean or where they go, that's handled by the calling Form upon exitting the dialog with OK. This makes persisting the settings into the config file easier as well.
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
Quote:
Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving.
When you see the redundancy, (if you don't have a very good reason for it) you must eliminate it. Go with OK, Cancel, and Apply I say.
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Cancel: close without saving. Apply: save without closing. Save: save and close.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
We should have FOUR options actually: 1. Close without saving (Close=true, Save=false) 2. Save without closing (Close=false, Save=true) 3. Save and close (Close=true, Save=true) 4. Don't save, don't close (Close=false, Save=false) (huh?)
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
You should include an option to break the glass and remove the hammer to break the glass... oh wait...
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering” - Wernher von Braun -
We should have FOUR options actually: 1. Close without saving (Close=true, Save=false) 2. Save without closing (Close=false, Save=true) 3. Save and close (Close=true, Save=true) 4. Don't save, don't close (Close=false, Save=false) (huh?)
It also needs an auto-close timeout, and a "Don't Close Anytime Soon" button. :)
Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
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It also needs an auto-close timeout, and a "Don't Close Anytime Soon" button. :)
Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
How about a "Close but no cigar" button?
Henry Minute Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is. Cogito ergo thumb - Sucking my thumb helps me to think.
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
Two buttons: "Save changes" and "Close dialog". "Save changes" also closes the dialog.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
How about a "Close but no cigar" button?
Henry Minute Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is. Cogito ergo thumb - Sucking my thumb helps me to think.
Not sure it fits the application, and then I try and avoid negatives as some people seem to get confused by them. Maybe "Apply Nicotine Patch" is more appropriate. :)
Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum
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Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
One button. Only. It say's "I'm Done". When the user clicks it, close the dialog and then prompt the user for what action to take. If there are changes, prompt for whether to save them or not. It's pretty simple, much like indexes that start at zero. ;P
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
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I think I prefer the Task Dialog approach where you give people better choices. You pretty much chose your button texts with: Close without saving Save and close Save without closing
*pre-emptive celebratory nipple tassle jiggle* - Sean Ewington
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
CodeStash - Online Snippet Management | My blog | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier
-
Greetings, I'm building a new application template and I'm not sure how to handle one part of the User Interface. If a user has a configuration screen open and they wish to close it I don't know what buttons I should include. Theoretically, you could have 'Close', 'Cancel', 'Ok', and 'Apply' - which seems a bit much. Close: Close without saving. Cancel: Close without saving. OK: Save then close. Apply: Save but don't close. It used to be that I'd just follow what Microsoft does but I've found the 'OK' button confuses people. They usually end up pressing 'Apply' and then 'OK'. There comes a point when multiple options just confuse people. I'd like to reduce the number of buttons. Maybe 'OK' and 'Close' where the user gets a warning message if 'Close' would result in changes being lost. What do you think?
To provide a consistent user experience throughout Windows please follow their UI guidelines: Apply - will apply settings immediately, button is optional. Only incorporate this button when options are changed that can be immediately reviewed (like changing fonts/colors etc). Including this buttons usually means extra code. OK - apply changes and close Cancel - discard changes and close. Please don't reinvent the wheel, every time the user sees a different text than those above he/she need to read and think about it. You should not change their order either.
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"Save" and "Cancel". Always use verbs. Having "Close" and "Cancel" without "Apply" does not make sense to me as they are the same. Having both "Cancel" and "Apply" is confusing: will "Cancel" undo an earlier "Apply"?? OK is only OK when the dialog isn't related to a user action (and then it would be the only button, and "Close" would be equally OK). FWIW: I don't like "Apply" much, either it is an inexpensive operation and it should apply immediately (and be undone upon "Cancel"), or it is an expensive one and then it only happens upon "Save". :)
Luc Pattyn [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum