Hi Nick,
I'm struggling to find the best way to respond because the fact is,
good software shouldn't have confirmation dialogs in the first place.
UI designers should be able to either:
1. Make sure users can't do things that would cause them harm
or
2. Ensure that any potentially harmful action is readily reversible
Following either of these paths makes the issue of Ok/Cancel button
placement a moot point. But let's say a case arises where you
absolutely must have a confirmation dialog...
In this case, putting the buttons in the same place every time merely
creates another problem. That is, the consistency encourages the user
to form bad habits.
I have six SSL certificate warning dialogs that appear every time I
start my email program. These dialogs are useless because I no longer
read them; I just keep clicking Continue until they all go away. If a
new message were ever to appear in one of those dialogs, I'd never
know because of the habit I've developed.
Of course, if we step back, we can find places where consistency in
interface design can help create good habits, like always putting the
Send button in the same place on the "compose a new message" window.
I guess my point is that it's more important to understand the
phenomenon of habit formation as it relates to interface design, than
it is to blindly follow the norm. Many applications are as terrible
as they are because they've copied the terrible designs that came
before them without understanding the underlying phenomena.
...and now for some Friday fun. A truly useless dialog:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bubbahotep1/64547469/
Have a great weekend!
Brad Lauster
On Nov 18, 2005, at 10:21 AM, Nicholas Bastin wrote:
Button placement may be visual design, but it should be immutable
based on the platform you're on, because it figures significantly
into the 'feel' of the application. On Win32, the cancel button is
the rightmost button, and the OK button is to its' immediate left.
On MacOS, the OK button is the rightmost button, with the Cancel
button immediately to its' left. Application designers who care
about 'feel' have no latitude on the placement of these buttons.
Flipping them because you like it 'visually' isn't going to help
the user who has been trained to their position through every other
application on their platform. Button placement has a lot more to
do with 'feel' than 'look'.
--
Nick
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