Popping up stacks

[Richard Gaskin]

Chipp Walters wrote:
> Why don't you use a modal dialog for this? You can script it so your code
> accesses it 'in process' for a handler, which makes your job pretty easy.
> 
> Check out:
> "Creating a reusable dialog box" at
> http://www.altuit.com/webs/revCentral/Number7/default.htm
> 
> for a quicky type solution which shows an 'in process' use of a modal
> dialog.

Thanks, Chipp.  Yes, I've made a few dialogs over the years, and about 
half of them were generalized into reusable libraries.  Modals are 
useful, but they're, well, modal.

This is a subtle distinction, but in practice it affects the feel of a 
program's flow.

To use an extreme example, imagine if HyperCard's toolbox was a modal 
dialog.  Sure, it'd only be an extra click to use it, but it would feel 
more like a separate thing, less integrated with the flow.

In Office 12, the new Galleries could probably have been modals as well, 
as similar features were in earlier versions.

But there's something very immediate-feeling about having a gallery pop 
up from the toolbar.  And while a modal requires an explicit gesture to 
dismiss it, menus are dismissed by doing anything outside of it, 
allowing the busy user to move on to do something else if the mood 
strikes them, and the menu politely gets out of their way and lets them 
do it.

There are a lot of niceties like that in Office 12.  I've been reading 
Jensen Harris' blog on its design ever since Dan Shafer first turned me 
on to it:
<http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/>

This analysis from Nielsen helps lend some perspective:
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/wysiwyg.html>

I share Neilsen's opinion that Ribbons represent one of the few truly 
new things in UIs since the standardization on the WIMP model (Windows, 
Icons, Menus, Pointer).  While we're not moving our UIs to a full 
Ribbons model, on a couple apps we're leaning in that direction with 
smarter and more complete toolbars.  Galleries as popup panes work well 
within that model, and they feel more "flowy", so over time I suspect 
many things which had been dialogs in our apps will migrate over time to 
popup panes.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
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