Re: Modal prompts vs notifications (was: Agenda - Distributed Meeting 2010-06-02)

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 6:31 AM, Dominique Hazael-Massieux <dom@w3.org> wrote:
> (updating subject to reflect actual content of this discussion)
>
> Hi,
>
> Le mercredi 09 juin 2010 à 06:24 -0700, James Salsman a écrit :
>> > Yes, as explained and illustrated in the contacts API document:
>> > http://dev.w3.org/2009/dap/contacts/#user-interaction-guidelines
>>
>> What is the difference between a "non-blocking contact search
>> notification" and a prompt?
>
> A prompt is usually modal,

Should there be a statement to that effect at the point where prompts
are discouraged?  I could not find any implication that prompts are
usually modal -- the issue of non-modality is treated seperately

> asks a question with a few options for the user (à la "yes"/"no") (as
> documented in the papers referenced from the issue I pointed to).

I read all three of those papers, and although your comment on
http://www.w3.org/2009/dap/track/issues/28 suggests that a consensus
exists, the references [1] and [3] seem diametrically opposed.  The
reference [3] --
http://www.w3.org/2008/security-ws/papers/security_assurance_webapi.pdf
-- for example, states, ""The user must explicitly authorize any and
all accesses to devices.... a two-page sequence is necessary before
[device access] can take place: a first page to check the permissions;
it will either go on to the next page automatically, or it will
display an error message telling the user to correct permissions."
That is a modal prompt.

> A non-blocking contact search notification doesn't prevent the user from
> continuing to use the page, and when/if the user decides to follow up on
> the notification, she gets offered with a search dialog that makes it
> (hopefully) self-evident that she's about to share contact info, and
> select what contact info she's going to share.

If the program is waiting on access, "continuing to use the page"
could be a relative term.  But the "non blocking contact search
notification" is still a prompt to the user, even if it is not modal.

Received on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 13:49:56 UTC