Re: How to avoid a Windows interface on OS X?
Re: How to avoid a Windows interface on OS X?
- Subject: Re: How to avoid a Windows interface on OS X?
- From: Wade Tregaskis <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 16:15:50 +1000
It has always been the Mac way for the positive response to be the
lower rightmost button. E.g. "Okay", "Continue", "Yes" etc. Your
questions should always be asked as positives, not negatives or
double-negatives.
E.g. "Are you sure you wish to delete xxx?" is good; "Are you sure you
don't want to keep xxx?" or "Are you sure you don't want to delete
xxx?" are both bad.
The default button should be whichever one the developer feels is the
'safest', or if all options are equally safe, the 'preferred' (i.e.
most likely selection). Which one is the default (if any) should not
affect the positioning of any elements. And whether you think your
users should live dangerously or not isn't really relevant...the MacOS
'Way' is to assume users are human (and therefore by definition very
prone to making mistakes). So the safest option is always the default.
From memory the HIG stated this for Classic MacOS. With Next's secret
take over of Apple, this may have changed. But 95% of Mac users expect
the standard, well-established behavior.
From another approach, if you really want to argue the point, think
about it logically. What is the purpose of a visually default button
but to show us where it is? If the default button is always the bottom
right, what's the point of highlighting it?
Wade Tregaskis
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.