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?
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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
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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.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
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.
Nobody wants to read the manual these days...
To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems - Homer Simpson ---- Our heads are round so our thoughts can change direction - Francis Picabia
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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 prefer the following as it hasnt raised any confusion for my users. Cancel - close without saving Done - close with saving In the experience that I have had, making it a 'plain enlish' as possible works the best. These two options are great for users as it's simple to understand. Now, if I needed a 'save without closing' option (and it has been rare) then I just label as 'save w/out closing' or similar.
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Pete:
Close without saving Save and close Save without closing
One more, Close without opening. My 5.
Happy Programming
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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?
Have you asked the USERS? Give them an option, one with and one without the Apply button. Let them tell you what they want to see and what works best for them.
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Don't forget
Halt and Catch Fire
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
Lovely trip down memory lane :) Haven't come across that instruction since playing around with 8 bit micros!
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Lovely trip down memory lane :) Haven't come across that instruction since playing around with 8 bit micros!
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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?
There is one application suite that I use where the devlopers forgot to call apply() in their OK() code. There are both OK and Cancel buttons, but they perform the same operation because OK does NOT save the changes. Only Apply saves the changes. Since you MUST hit apply to save the changes no matter what, they probably should have had Apply and Close. We upgraded to a new version... Maybe they fixed it, maybe they didn't, but I still keep clicking Apply+OK no matter what. I haven't even bothered to check because I have the gut feeling that if they fixed it, they probably fixed it on certain dialogs and not others!
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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]
I definitely like this answer. Maybe the wording can be reduced to one word, e.g. "Finish". But it also depends on your users. If they are typical Microsoft Office and Excel users, find a dialog somewhere in Office or Excel that does something similar and mimic it.
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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?