YaST/Style Guide/Dialogs/Questions

From openSUSE

What is a "Question" Message Box?

A "question" message box provides feedback about a situation or a condition that requires the user's decision and input before proceeding. The message is in form a question.
The purposes of message boxes are

• prevent the user from making errors
• increase the user's controllability of the module

There are two major kinds of "question message boxes":

• Common: asks the user to decide between two conditions that don't have any effect on the system.
  

 Q: Do you want to print a test page?
 A1: Print
 A2: Cancel

• Warning: asks the user a question with potentially destructive consequences.

 Q: Are you sure you want to delete this item?
 A1: Delete
 A2: Cancel 

Properties of a "Question" Message Box"

• Appropriate Icon (YaST Popup library needs to be extended)
• Headline with a one sentence summary of the information or suggested action. The user gets the essential details of the problem or suggestion. The font is bold and slightly larger than the additional information.
• Additional information with a more detailed description of the problem and suggested action, including possible side effects. It helps the user to make an informed decision. In most situations the user should only need the primary text to make a quick decision.
• A button with positive meaning is always on the left side, e.g., Yes, Continue, Delete, Of, Course, I Agree, Feel Free to Do It, ... and should have the initial focus.
• A button with negative meaning is always on the right side, e.g., No, Cancel, Never, I Do Not Agree', ...
• There should be some space between these two buttons to avoid unintentional mouse clicks on the other button.

Examples

• Confirmation of aborting the installation process.
• Could be enhanced by using an appropriate icon and headline.
• There is an exception for an initial focus because of safety of the installation.

• Confirmation of removing selected entry, e.g., from a table listing configured DNS zones.

• Confirmation of deleting the selected entry with emphasizing the danger of it. A Delete button is different to common Continue/Cancel or Yes/No combination to attract user's attention.

• Question with more obvious answers than Yes/No. Print button helps users to quickly understand what woud happen if they click on that button.

• Mostly an informative question that wants users to do something. They can accept or refuse to do it.
• Continue button makes user understand quickly.

• A simple question without any emphasis, nevertheless the safer option is always preferred.