Re: changing properties dialogue

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, James K. Lowden wrote:
> On 17 Oct 2002 08:38:57 -0500, Lars Clausen <lrclause@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>> > You probably dont want hitting return anywhere in a dialog to be
>> > equivalent to okay.  for example in a password dialog hitting return
>> > after typing in the username it does not make sense to hit ok, it
>> > should bring you to the next box to enter your password first.  
>> 
>> We had a long discussion about this on the Dillo list.  I checked a
>> number of browsers, and several have Return be submit, even when there
>> are more input fields.  Tab is what is used to navigate.  'Return', by
>> its very name, returns you to where you were before (and 'enter' says to
>> enter the data you've typed in into the system). 
> 
> The answer is simple and consistent.  Every dialog has a default button,
> and <Return> presses it.  Most dialogs set "OK" as the default, but
> occasionally not, for something that can do a lot of damage, like a GUI
> version of fdisk(8).  GTK provides clear visual feedback showing which
> button is the default.  
> 
> The error many dialog designers make is to enable "OK" before it should
> be.  Until the requisite data are provided, it should be disabled.
> Taking your password dialog example, if "OK" is disabled until a username
> and long-enough password are provided, pressing <Return> does nothing,
> because the default button is disabled.  (<Esc> would still invoke
> "Cancel", of course.  I can't think of a reason ever to disable
> "Cancel".)

Well, for our Properties dialogues (except maybe UML Class), there is not
problem of not having provided enough info (though it may be possible in
the future with complex properties), so Enter should be enabled by default.

> Reminds me of a story I saw in the New York Times about Slashdot the
> other day.  (That's right, not the other way around; you read that
> improbable sentence correctly.)  It seems on the front door to the office
> they have a little <Enter> key stolen from a keyboard, inviting you in.
> On your way out, you'll see on the back of that same front door its older
> cousin: <Return>.

Cute:)

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?