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The problem is that users typically read as little as is necessary to figure out what to do next--and very often, not even that much. Since the Windows dialog
by rkts 18y ago
The problem is that users typically read as little as is necessary to figure out what to do next--and very often, not even that much. Since the Windows dialog must be read entirely to be understood, it's more likely to be misinterpreted. E.g., a user may accidentally press "close," see the dialog, and think, "No, I didn't mean to close"... and then lose all their work.
- mynameishere 18y agoread as little as is necessary Exactly. The Windows dialog is very, very short. The apple dialog is a miniature tutorial on the purpose and consequences of this thing called "save".
- rkts 18y agoThe Mac dialog has a lot of text, yes, but it requires less reading to be understood, which, empirically, is what seems to matter most. If you watch people use your software, one thing you notice right away is that many of them don't read ANY text. When a dialog shows up, they go straight to the buttons and click whichever one seems right--even if they don't know what the dialog is asking! It sounds crazy, but it's what people do.
- mynameishere 18y agoI'm not sure where the confusion is. #1 User presses "Save". #2 Is met with "Yes/no". #3 Presses "yes". Where am I confused? I'm getting downmodded by the mac-bots as usual, but the purposeless verbosity remains purposeless as far as I can see...
- puns 18y agoThe user doesn't press save in #1 -- the user exits the app. If the user pressed save, they would be met with a save dialog, which is something completely different. What the article discusses is a dialog the user didn't expect. Something pops up and they have to figure out what it is. Now you can make the user read the message, or you can make the window scannable by sticking actions on button labels. Reading the buttons is much faster than reading the sentence above. Sure, you're gonna save like 2 seconds of the user's time, but these 2 seconds are going to be multiplied by thousands in the course of the user using the app or OS. Little touches like this help make a good product.