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: <8502@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 11 Sep 89 21:31:10 GMT
References: <24871@santra.UUCP> <8461@hoptoad.uucp> <25123@santra.UUCP>
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 50

In article <25123@santra.UUCP> jmunkki@kampi.hut.fi (Juri Munkki) writes:
>In article <8461@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
>>This is one of the few cases where I recommend *not* going along with
>>the user interface standard.
>
>You're probably saying this just because you haven't done it yourself. :-)

Heh.  Could be, but then I *chose* not to do it the standard way.  Barking
at the user is "not my bag" -- that's what bulletin boards are for.  :^)

>>The dialog as specified contains a
>>sentence fragment which is anything but clear to novice users.
>
>>The Yes, No, and Cancel buttons should in fact be placed in the proper
>>relative positions and assigned the standard meanings.
>
>I agree. So, has anyone seen an application that has the buttons at the
>correct coordinates? So far I've received only one report of a program
>that follows the guidelines and even that one was a non-commercial private
>program.

Not the correct coordinates per se; if you're going to use a complete
sentence, the dialog box they give you doesn't have enough room.  But
sure, the button placement

Yes
No    Cancel

is not what you'd call rare.

By the way, someone (David?) said that the IM-4 specification had been
replaced by another, and alert box with "save, Discard, Cancel", but I
can't find anywhere that's specified.  The "Human Interface Guidelines"
book from Addison-Wesley has essentially the same dialogs as IM-4,
except that it says "save changes before closing/quitting?" with no
file name.  Actually, IM-4 says one thing in its picture (use the file
name) and another in the text (use "closing" or "quitting").

This is the same chapter in "Human Interface Guidelines" that says
"It's better to be polite than abrupt, even if it means lengthening the
message".  Then a few pages later it tells you to bark "Save changes
before quitting?" at the user.  I think the former instruction should
be taken as canon, and the latter ignored.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"What's the ugliest part of your body?
 Some say your nose, some say your toes,
 But I think it's your mind."
-- Frank Zappa