GNU bug report logs - #12635
A usability issue with the save dialog box

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Message #20 received at 12635 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Alex Hanif <hanifbbz <at> gmail.com>
To: Juri Linkov <juri <at> jurta.org>
Cc: 12635 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#12635: A usability issue with the save dialog box
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2012 10:37:48 +0200

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Thanks Eli, Andreas, Juri,
I have reviewed the design based on your suggestions. Please find the new
muckups with the design elaborations at the end of that blog post here:
http://user.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/emacs-has-a-confusing-save-dialogue-box/
Thank you,
+Alex Hanif
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On Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 6:05 PM, Juri Linkov <juri <at> jurta.org> wrote:

> > Please let me know if I can help improve Emacs.
>
> The most user-friendly UI would tell the user what pressing the button
> will do exactly.  So instead of buttons "Yes"/"No", it would display
> more explicit text in buttons: "Save"/"Don't save" or "Save"/"Discard".
>
> OTOH, Emacs is special in this regard that actions in the dialog box
> have their counterparts in the non-GUI version where "y" and "n" are keys
> to save or skip the buffer.  With the goal to maintain compatibility
> between these two versions, the GUI version could provide accelerator keys
> in the button text like "_Y_es" and "_N_o".
>
> But in case when these versions will diverge from each other,
> and also for the final question
>
>   Modified buffers exist; exit anyway?
>
> still more explicit "Yes, discard changes"/"No, cancel" or
> "Yes, close without saving"/"No, cancel" would be better.
>
> "Don't quit" to cancel the dialog is very necessary, yes,
> but a link in a dialog box a quite non-standard element.
> Much simpler would be to just add the button "Cancel".
>
> Removing the option "View This Buffer" could be accompanied with
> displaying the buffer in question unconditionally (this suggestion
> pertains to the non-GUI version as well).
>
> Regarding the multi-file operation, some applications solve this problem
> by displaying a list of all unsaved files to help the user decide what
> to do with all of them.
>
> Emacs already does the same for running processes by displaying their list
> and asking a simple question:
>
>   Active processes exist; kill them and exit anyway? "Yes"/"No"
>
> I wonder why not to do the same for unsaved buffers?
>

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