Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!gatech!mcnc!kk
From: kk@mcnc.org (Krzysztof Kozminski)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Don't change the Standard Alert [was: The Great Standard ...]
Message-ID: <1377@speedy.mcnc.org>
Date: 18 Sep 89 18:19:25 GMT
References: <8909111739.AA10090@fs3.cs.rpi.edu> <15631@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Reply-To: kk@mcnc.org.UUCP (Krzysztof Kozminski)
Organization: Microelectronics Center of NC; RTP, NC
Lines: 29

I am confused. I have seen three people say that the 'Save as'
capability in the standard Yes/No/Cancel close box is a good idea and
then go on saying 'but thee Will Not Violate The Great Standard'.  This
seems holier than Pope to me.  Upon re-reading the last paragraph in IM
vol 4, page 11, I see that Apple guidelines explicitly permit modifying
the 'close box', while recommending that the *general* arrangement of
the buttons remains the same.

In article <15631@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> ari@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Ari Halberstadt) writes:
>[Lotsa stuff about how an extra button will  confuse the user]

Right, sure, I can imagine the confusion and despair:

	"Gee, what's this 'Save as' thing. I wonder what this is for ... gee,
	I'd better click 'Discard' just to be safe ... oh, $#!T, I wanted to
	save my changes !"

All this is starting to waste bandwidth.  I suggest moving further
discussion of the 'Save as' button to e-mail.

On a tangent: the guidelines say that the alternative with the most
disastrous effects should be the most difficult to choose for the user;
Perhaps the 'No/Discard' button should be 6 by 20 pixels with text in
font size 4 ? :-)

KK
-- 
Kris Kozminski   kk@mcnc.org
"The party was a masquerade; the guests were all wearing their faces."