Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful (was Re: open for access)
Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful (was Re: open for access)
- Subject: Re: Tell Blocks Considered Harmful (was Re: open for access)
- From: "Mark J. Reed" <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:13:40 -0500
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 9:08 AM, Luther Fuller
<email@hidden> wrote:
An interesting thread. I was thinking of commenting, but first I wanted to verify that I knew the meaning of 'modal'. (And I do.) So, I looked it up. And I found lots of documents that used phrases like 'document modal' and 'application modal' and such.
I am now reduced to confusion and total ignorance. What is 'modal'?
Well, in generic terms, it means "of or having to do with modes". For instance, the vi editor is described as modal because the user flips back and forth between two modes (insert and edit) while using it. I'm sure you know that much already.
With regard to GUIs, it has acquried a specialty meaning referring to dialog boxes that prevent the user from interacting with anything else but the dialog box itself. They essentially put the entire UI into a new "mode" where the user can't interact with the rest of the system.
The qualified terms refer to dialogs that are modal only within a limited context. For instance, "document modal" means that while the dialog box is there, you can't do anything else with the document that triggered it, but you are free to switch to a different document within the same application and interact with it normally. Similarly, "application modal" means that the rest of the application is totally off limits until the dialog is dismissed, but you can switch to a different application. The most extreme form is generally just called "modal", possibly "full modal" or "fully modal" to disambiguate; that's where the entire UI is inaccessible until you do something to dismiss the dialog box.
--
Mark J. Reed <
email@hidden>
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