UI guidelines for dialog boxes

[Anna Jayne Metcalfe]

If you're working with MFC projects, Herbert Menke's CResizeCtrl may be of help to you here. Since it's a plug-in class, there's no need to write hand-crafted OnSize() handlers in each dialog...just add them to the resizer and tell it how they should be sized/positioned as the dialog is resized. :cool: Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd

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"I would be careful in separating your wierdness, a good quirky weirdness, from the disturbed wierdness of people who take pleasure from PVC sheep with fruit repositories." - Paul Watson

[Anna Jayne Metcalfe]

Matt Gullett wrote: 2. Also for dialogs with more than 2 or 3 lines place the help button (if any) in the lower left of the dialog. Surely you mean lower right? (Property Pages and Wizards follow this convention, unless you move the default buttons). Andy Metcalfe - Sonardyne International Ltd

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"I would be careful in separating your wierdness, a good quirky weirdness, from the disturbed wierdness of people who take pleasure from PVC sheep with fruit repositories." - Paul Watson

[Matt Gullett]

Oy yea! Lower right it is. BTW it was 4:30 AM when I posted the message so I am surprised it makes sense at all.

[Michael P Butler]

Well just cut and paste the MS ones, put your name on it and nobody'll know the difference. ;-) Michael :-) Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician. - The Doctor

[Christopher Duncan]

Chris Maunder wrote: 11. Developers who provide dialogs with messages such as 'Your application is toast: Shutting down' with [OK] and [Cancel] buttons, and for which the Cancel button does not cancel the aforementioned toasting of said application, will be taken out back and shot. [OK] [Cancel] should be replaced with [Crash] [Burn] If I'm going to get choices, at least make them realistic. Chistopher Duncan Author - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World (Apress)

[Phil J Pearson]

Then you should upgrade to the latest version of customer. There's really no excuse for continuing to use the old, broken version. Phil

[Olli]

LOL :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Olli I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.....
:suss: :rolleyes: :suss:

[James R Twine]

Nishant S wrote: Not for Java and VB developed applications!!!    That is because their implementation of the boxes is broken! :)  Actually, now that I think about it, I KNOW that the Dialog Manager automatically handles , but I am not so sure about ...    Peace! -=- James. "There is nothing worse than being oblivious to the fact that you do not know what you are doing." [Get Check Favorites 1.4 Now!]

[James R Twine]

Michael P Butler wrote: What's wrong with the "offical" Microsoft User Interface Guidelines?    Nothing... Except a lot of developers are ignorant of them.  There are broken GUIs everywhere...    Peace! -=- James. "There is nothing worse than being oblivious to the fact that you do not know what you are doing." [Get Check Favorites 1.4 Now!]

[James R Twine]

A few more...    If you use color as part of your interface, like using Green test for informational messages and Red for errors, make the colors selectable by the user!  Many developers forget that some users are colorblind, and others may be using a red or green color as their background color.    If you have a drop-down combobox, make sure to adjust it's dropped width as required.    When showing MessageBoxes to confirm an action with MB_OKCANCEL, MB_YESNO, MB_YESNOCANCEL, etc, make sure to default the "safe" choice.  This one is forgotten most often.  For example, if you are asking the user to confirm a delete action with a message like "Are you sure you want to delete this item? This action cannot be undone!", and are using a MB_YESNO MessageBox, the [No] button should be the default button.    Peace! -=- James. "There is nothing worse than being oblivious to the fact that you do not know what you are doing." [Get Check Favorites 1.4 Now!]

[James R Twine]

Perhaps try searching for "Official Guidelines for User Interface Developers and Designers", or for "The Windows User Experience" instead...  That is the new name for the book.    Peace! -=- James. "There is nothing worse than being oblivious to the fact that you do not know what you are doing." [Get Check Favorites 1.4 Now!]

[Michael P Butler]

James R. Twine wrote: make sure to default the "safe" choice. This one is forgotten most often. I'll hold my hand up to that one, it is one of my most common mistakes. Luckily I don't do any "dangerous" applications. "Launch Nuclear Missile at Iraq YES No" :~ Michael :-) Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician. - The Doctor

[James R Twine]

Michael P Butler wrote: Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician. - The Doctor     :eek: Sweet!  Another _Who_vian (or Apprentice Time Lord)! :-D    Peace! -=- James. "There is nothing worse than being oblivious to the fact that you do not know what you are doing." [Get Check Favorites 1.4 Now!]

[Shog9 0]

Wow, what a great thread. One of those few threads that makes me sad i don't have the time to spend all day posting to, ranting in outrage at others' opinions. The one guideline i'm going to comment on, as several other people have already, is #6: Nishant S wrote: 6. The size of the dialog box will be such that it will fit within the screen on the lowest target resolution which by default is fixed as 640 x 480. Depending on the target requirements this default may be raised or lowered. Instead, i would say:

6. The minimum size of the dialog box will be less than the miniumum target screen resolution. This minimum size will be enforced regardless of font size and border settings - the dialog controls must be adjusted or re-arranged to accomidate such preference changes. If the dialog contains scrollable controls such as list boxes, multi-line edit controls, tree controls, etc. then it MUST be resizeable.

And to refine this, i would also add:

6a. All resizeable dialogs will display appropriate controls to indicate how they may be resized:

• a thick vertical border if the dialog can be resized horizontally
• a thick horizontal border if the dialog can be resized vertically
• a gripper at lower-right if the dialog can be resized diagonally
• a maximize button if the dialog can be resized to fill the screen
• a minimize button if the dialog can be iconized.

And finally:

6b. If a minimize feature is added to a modal dialog, it must minimize the entire application, so users are not presented with a disabled application window.

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PMGRE

--Shog9 --

[Michael P Butler]

James R. Twine wrote: Sweet! Another Whovian (or Apprentice Time Lord)! I've been a fan since the 70's. Not one of those hard core continuity nuts but one who enjoys a good adventure story with a touch of sci-fi. Michael :-) Look, try and use your intelligence, man, even if you are a politician. - The Doctor