[Sigia-l] Form Usability - Search & Cancel location

[Christopher Fahey [askrom]]

> > most dialog boxes are atrocious in terms of usability...
> 
> Why?

If by "Why?" you mean "How?", I'll give two simple examples of dialog
box problems I see almost every day in almost any commercial software:

 - Inconsistent button placement ("OK/Cancel" on one box, "Cancel/OK" on
another in the same app)
 - Unclear copywriting ("Click Cancel to accept changes, or click OK to
proceed.")

To really answer "Why?", my guess would be that even though interaction
designers have made inroads into the major interface elements of web
sites and applications (screens, widgets, core processes and success
scenarios), dialog boxes (and in particular error dialog boxes) are
typically left in the hands of software engineers. Which is why they are
atrocious.

See 37 signals' whitepaper on contingency design for more on this:
  http://www.37signals.com/whitepaper/

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
sci: http://www.askrom.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com