Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hoptoad!tim
From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: The Great Standard Yes/No/Cancel Alert Contest
Message-ID: <8461@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 7 Sep 89 21:50:34 GMT
References: <24871@santra.UUCP>
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 33

In article <24871@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@kampi.hut.fi (Juri Munkki) writes:
>All of you know that the Yes/No/Cancel dialog that appears when you try to
>close a changed document has been standardized in IM-IV. The right coordinates
>and appearance are on pages 10 and 11.
>
>I just typed those values with ResEdit because I couldn't find an application
>from where I could copy a dialog that exactly conforms to those guidelines.

This is one of the few cases where I recommend *not* going along with
the user interface standard.  The dialog as specified contains a
sentence fragment which is anything but clear to novice users.  (And
yes, this is something I have actually seen intelligent but
non-computer-oriented people get confused by.)  Generally, dialogs
should always communicate in complete sentences wherever possible.
Sentence fragments should be restricted to button titles and the
occasional colonized (colonic?) field label.

The Yes, No, and Cancel buttons should in fact be placed in the proper
relative positions and assigned the standard meanings.  But that's
enough to provide consistency across interfaces.  Not only *can* you not
use the abysmal "Save changes to '^0'?", but IMHO you *should* not use
it.  It's a very serious thing you're asking and you need to make sure
that you're clear.  A perhaps too verbose form would be what I used in
TOPS Terminal:  "You have made changes to '^0', but you have not saved
them.  [Second box:] Do you want to save the changes that you have
made?"  This could be slightly abbreviated, but I think it's much
clearer and so much safer than the "standard" on Inside Mac IV-10.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"As I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of
 Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.  I collected some of
 their Proverbs..." - Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"