Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!apple!well!oster
From: oster@well.sf.ca.us (David Phillip Oster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Save/Discard/Cancel
Message-ID: <21847@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 28 Nov 90 03:24:26 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 89



Inside Mac Vol 4 says that there shall be a standard "save changes" dialog.
It even goes so far as to specifiy the integer coordinates of the buttons
and text. Here is a direct quote:
	"When a user chooses Close or Quit from the File menu, and the 
	active document has been changed, the Close dialog box appears,
	asking 'Save changes before closing?' A great deal of work can be 
	lost if the user mistakenly clicks the "No" button instead of 
	"Cancel". This is especially important for Switcher users, who 
	often move from one application to another and become less aware
	of  subtle differences between applications. To avoid confusion, 
	all applications should use the same standard Close dialog:"

The dialog IM4 recommends looks like this:
 ---
Save changes to file "foo" before closing?
((Yes))
 (No )		(Cancel)
 ---

Users are often tired or rushed, and our programs should not be full of 
pitfalls for people working at less than peak efficiency. Remember, when
you are designing your close dialog, that simple filenames can be quite long,
and if the user has anyway of typing a path, the result can be longer than
255 characters. I personally don't like the look of dialogs that have been
sized for the worst case: there is too much white space for the usual case.
My programs autosize these dialogs: I implement them as a dialog rather than
as an alert, construct the text I am going to show, call textEdit to measure
the number of lines the text will take, and resize the Statictext item,
move the controls and grow the window as necessary.

The IM4 recommendation on Close dialog boxes was revised in a later tech 
note to:

 ---
Save changes to file "foo" before closing?
(( Save ))
 (Discard)		(Cancel)
 ---

on the grounds that it was better to label buttons with explicit verbs,
rather than use "Yes" and "No". That way, the user is less likely to 
automatically react, without thought, to yet another Yes/No question.


Now, Inside Mac Vol 6 (beta) says:

 ---
Save changes to file "foo" before closing?
 (Don't Save)		(Cancel)	((Save))
 ---

I think the change of button labels is an improvement, but getting rid
of the two columns and moving the position of the default button all the
way to the other side of the dialog is a mistake. Apple wants us to do this
because the new word is that default buttons should always be in the lower
left, with cancel beside them. They argue that dialogs should be read from
left to right, top to bottom, so the default choice should be at the very
end. In Apple's illustration, the three buttons
are equally spaced across the bottom of the dialog box.

Apple, in the shipping version of Inside Mac Vol 6, please change this to:

 ---
 +-+
 | |
 +-+	Save changes to file "foo" before closing?
	((   Save   ))
	 (Don't Save)		(Cancel)
 ---
I think the history of this specific three button dialog is too important
to ignore. The new dialog puts the dangerous choice right where the safe
choice used to be. Further, if all the other dialogs follow Apple's new
guidelines, than it is the very difference from that standard that will
help us here. Close dialogs will be the ONLY dialogs with this distinctive
pattern of buttons, and user will know that that is what he is seeing just 
from the shape of this standard close dialog, before he even reads the dialog.

The "box" in the above figure represents the icon for the document that will
be saved. This gives the user another cue about what application is asking
him this question.


"A foolish consistency is a hobgoblin of little minds", as Asimov says 
Emerson says.
-- 
-- David Phillip Oster - At least the government doesn't make death worse.
-- oster@well.sf.ca.us = {backbone}!well!oster