GUI Dialog buttons and focus. (Firefox v1.5)

Lostgallifreyan <[email protected]> Sat, 10 Dec 2005 12:35:25 GMT
Newsgroups gmane.comp.mozilla.devel.windows
Organization Another Netscape Collabra Server User
Message-ID <[email protected]>
A small, but VERY annoying thing. :)

The focus currently jumps to the parent dialog, not the most likely button on 
that dialog. This is true for all the dialogs I've seen so far.

The problem with this is that tools designed to speed user input by making the 
pointer jump to the most likely place for the next click are badly affected by 
the need to make extra moves to offset the inappropriate jumps, which currently 
end up over the centre of the dialog instead of the centre of the most useful 
button.

There is another aspect to this which matters to those who do not have these 
pointer jump tools: Safety when using the Space bar or Enter keys, especially 
as it's very easy to hit those by accident.

If the No or Cancel button is chosen for default focus on dialogs where a 
failsafe exit is appropriate, for example cancelling a current operation, or 
the Yes or Ok button for anything where the user is likely to confirm, the 
whole business becomes both easier and safer.

While it can make a user lazy, it's more likely to make things reliable and to 
allow effort to be spent where it matters most, and it's a small fix to get 
this right.

Even IE gets this right. >:)