a dialog that prevents interaction with the rest of the GUI until it is dismissed.
7
votes
2answers
383 views
What is modal about a modal dialog?
I'm reading a lot about modal dialogs.
I know(?) what modal means, having read Raskin's "The Humane Interface". I can understand what's modal about a toolbar in a drawing program (select mode, draw ...
33
votes
5answers
1k views
What research is there suggesting modal dialogs are disruptive?
It seems "Everyone" knows they're highly disruptive for many situations but often times clients don't. Particularly in desktop applications this form of dialog is often misused, often disrupting a ...
4
votes
5answers
1k views
What is a Modal Dialog Window?
What exactly is a modal dialog window and when should you use it? Are there certain cases where you should refrain from using one?
9
votes
4answers
2k views
Login/sign-up in modal dialogs
I've been working on a web-platform for some time now.
As I was writing the usual "Sign-up" and "Login" pages I realized that a whole page was an overkill for such simple tasks so I decided to put ...
3
votes
5answers
188 views
How to design a Win 7-like dialog for choosing One of N options without a confirm button?
The Copy file dialog of Win 7 constitutes an approach to presenting One of N options choices to users.
This dialog, however, has been accused of being too hard to scan, and lacking click affordance.
...
16
votes
6answers
650 views
Solving the “accidental confirm” problem with dialog boxes
The scenario is all too common: An application brings up a dialog box while you are typing, and you hit the space key before you even realize what's happening. The dialog is gone and you have no clue ...
207
votes
12answers
36k views
Should I use Yes/No or Ok/Cancel on my message box?
Semantically, the Yes/No buttons are roughly equivalent to the Ok/Cancel buttons, but in general what would you recommend to use? Should I always use Yes/No or always use Ok/Cancel? Or does it depend ...
8
votes
3answers
283 views
When should a messagebox be used?
When I started in programming, there was a manual with a number of GUI guidelines. The input fields were color coded. For instance, a mandatory field would be yellow and an ordinary field would be ...
0
votes
4answers
277 views
Show hint only once?
When a user adds an object to his favorites I'd like to tell him where he can find the favorites list (unfortunately it's not that obvious and can't be changed at the moment). My idea is to show a ...
15
votes
8answers
885 views
When to use darkened backgrounds behind modal windows?
I am creating a modal window that will instruct a user to sign in a present a form to do so. I am debating between whether I should darken the screen behind the modal window as well, or if that effect ...
14
votes
7answers
398 views
Nagging the user with double message box for something that is important.
When our software is installed, it installs some networking components. It may run fine immediately after the install, but chances are that some applications won't be able to talk to the network until ...
7
votes
6answers
640 views
Wizard or Tab ?
When I want to make an input dialog with lots of input field, do I need make the dialog in wizard style
or tab style?
Any suggestions?
15
votes
4answers
2k views
Inline editing or modal popup
I'm interested to know what would be best the option from a UX perspective. I have a table in which i need to decide if i should edit each row with inline editing where you can click on each item in ...
10
votes
4answers
855 views
Should Dialogs be avoided in modern applications?
I have used a few dialogs on the last system I designed. The application was a business application with many database tables and I used many datagrids to show data. It was common that I placed a ...
4
votes
1answer
316 views
UI for saving changes in document-based mobile app?
I'm making a photoshop-like image editor (e.g. for drawing pictures and diagrams) for iPhone and Android mobile devices. I'm designing the interface for saving documents with regards to how data loss ...
3
votes
4answers
443 views
What are the benefits and drawbacks of dialog sheets as seen in Mac OS X?
Introduced with the original Mac OS X were dialog sheets:
As I understand (not being a Mac user) these sheets are modal, requiring user interaction in the current window, but not limiting the user ...
11
votes
2answers
233 views
Should there be a difference in the relative sizes of the buttons in a confirmation dialog?
I understand the idea behind having the more likely to be used action on a page slightly larger or in a different style in order to guide the user to it (for example having a button for save but a ...
3
votes
2answers
163 views
Displaying _your pop-up blocker is interfering with this_ alerts?
Saw a tweet today from asking if anyone had seen a good example of a site that displayed an alert to users with pop-up blockers turned on (in the case where the blocker interferes with display of some ...
10
votes
6answers
822 views
Closing modal dialogs
I come across modal dialogs everyday and I see different implementations all the time.
Most modal dialogs have a [X] in the upper right hand corner of the dialog along with a Cancel/Close button. ...
3
votes
4answers
376 views
What is the best acknowledge UI?
What is the best acknowledge UI? Ie. confirmation by the user.
1) A simple checkbox on a form
or
2) A pop-up with a message and OK/Cancel buttons
12
votes
8answers
1k views
What are some alternatives to the phrase “Are you sure you want to XYZ” in confirmation dialogs?
I don't like seeing the word 'you' in the message twice. Examples:
Are you sure you want to delete this item?
Are you sure you want to continue?
31
votes
9answers
3k views
The Usability of “Lightbox UIs”
Lightbox UIs are becoming a lot more prevalent in mainstream web-design. You know the drill -- click on a link, the background fades darker, and up pops a UI for interacting with an object, making a ...
13
votes
6answers
652 views
Do people like/hate popups, even if they're useful?
My company's product is a popup modal widget that shows information
about different terms mentioned in blogs, when hovering over a term
As lead designer, I find myself wondering if that's the best ...
24
votes
7answers
2k views
When should you use a modal dialog box?
There seems to be an increasing use of modal dialog boxes on the web, but when should you use them? Why would you choose to use them instead of inline controls or another page, and when should you ...
16
votes
9answers
473 views
Should alert boxes be avoided at any cost?
Thanks to Gabriel Svennerberg and Sam K for this one - raised in a comment here.
I was fairly casual about alert boxes until a run of user tests where an alert box was put up to warn learners that ...
