[Sigia-l] Properties Window: Modal vs Non-modal

Austin Govella austin.govella at gmail.com
Wed Oct 10 09:13:04 EDT 2007


On 10/9/07, Oleg Krupnov <oleg.krupnov at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm looking for the better way to present object properties to the
> user, namely,  should the Properties window be modal or non-modal.
>
> In existing applications I find that both ways are widely and mixedly
> used and I'm not sure about their reasoning and I don't know how the
> users would prefer.

The context of use for each is different. In Photoshop the properties
in non-modal windows are edited frequently. In Word, the properties in
modal windows are not.

There's a really good chapter on modal vs. non-modal in Cooper and
Reimann's book, 'About Face'.

(I think it's a chapter. It might be part of a chapter.)



-- 
Austin Govella
Thinking & Making: http://thinkingandmaking.com
Thinking Links: http://thinkingandmaking.com/links



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