Totally agree. Is like they want you to mess it up on purpose.

Microsoft already trained a few generation of human to just click yes for everything.

This is why I love my iMac.

Can you give an example of how you would make this dialog box better?

I would make the dialog box better by getting rid of it.

Otto: "Remove from cache / Cancel" maybe?

Users usually take notice only on the buttons. "Yes/No" does NOT give user any useful information what's going to happen clicking each button.

It's sad, but we're developing for users, and MS Office clearly should ask user only questions an avarage user can answer understanding what's going to happen.

RE: Can you give an example of how you would make this dialog box better?

"Remove leftover installation files from the cache?"

Yes, this would have been helpful advice back in ~2002 when office 2003 was being written. Things are at least a little better now.. :)

Sure, it's easy to bust Microsoft's chops over stupid error messages. But, seriously? You're giving people design advice? Look in the mirror!

There are ads to the left, to the right and below your "article." (Ugly Google text ads, no less!) One of the image ads in the right-hand sidebar is blinking, for crying out loud! And, further down in that sidebar are three warnings (in both IE8 and Chrome).

There's so much crap going on here that I find it difficult to take the thrust of your post seriously. What are you trying to do with this website? Offer commentary and advice, or get rich quick on Google?

Here are the warnings, in case they don't repro for you:

Warning: include() [function.include]: URL file-access is disabled in the server configuration in /home/chwats/public_html/miaow/archives/001974.php on line 313

Warning: include(http://www.smileycat.com/textlinkads.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: no suitable wrapper could be found in /home/chwats/public_html/miaow/archives/001974.php on line 313

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://www.smileycat.com/textlinkads.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/chwats/public_html/miaow/archives/001974.php on line 313

I know it's cool to take shots at Microsoft and their less than ideal UI choices but this is a pretty poor example. If I asked you that question you would seriously have no idea what I'm talking about?

>>If I asked you that question you would seriously have no idea what I'm talking about?<<

I wouldn't, and I've been using computers for 30 years.

This is a very common problem with Windows and Ubuntu. Error messages that hint at some dire consequence if you click OK, with no user-understandable explanation of what is about to happen.

This is quite funny indeed :-)

The problem some people don't seem to understand is that the information presented in these boxes is hierarchical. Users will first be drawn to the buttons (what do I have to click to not get into trouble or to get done what I asked for?) and if that message is not clear, they'll read the text. So - for the sake of efficiency - buttons would ideally have titles that give enough information by themselves for most users. E.g. To the question: "Do you want me to print this document" the buttons should offer the options 'print' and 'cancel'. Why? Because 99 out of 100 times the user will probably have have chosen the option 'print document' from some menu. If he's presented by a mere choice between 'yes' and 'no', the popup might also be another notification, maybe even from some other program. There is no way to be sure until you read the text above it, but our user might assume that 'yes' means 'print'. Wrong: the popup was this popup, it actually came from another program and by choosing 'yes' the user just lost some important work. So: giving the buttons real options, always, gravely reduces user error.

I know exactly what it's asking, and I knew after about 2 seconds of looking at it (the time it took to read it).

You're installing, there's a source for the installation, apparently in this case it's in the cache. Are you certain you want to remove it?

Yes = I'm certain, please remove it
No = I'm uncertain, please don't remove it, I'll figure it out later or just ignore it forever.

I'm not gonna say Windows is perfect but this is a bad example.

I often use Windows 7 at work, and it's like the entire OS is an insecure teenager, constantly begging for my attention with its error messages, warnings, alerts, reminders, and status messages. Leave me alone, I have work to do! Go away. Leave me in peace.

The point here is not just the language on the buttons, but the incomplete content of the message. It should also say something like "If you remove the install source from the cache, you will have to have the CD available if you would like to add a feature" or whatever. Few people know why they are given this choice.

This dialog is a symptom of a greater issue: the combined interaction of two overly complex pieces software, Windows and Office, which makes the need to cache installer files necessary in the first place. I agree with the earlier poster who said to get rid of this dialog altogether. No user should be bothered with this ever. The problem is that such a move would require a sweeping redesign of Windows and an overhaul of Office on a scale which Microsoft doesn't seem capable of pulling off anymore.

I got this Microsoft error message on my Mac: http://yfrog.com/70edlp

"I would make the dialog box better by getting rid of it."

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner. Congratulations to Jules.

And what does the close “X” do?

• Same as “No”?
• Stop the process at this point?
• Cancel the process and leave everything untouched?

Mac user. Even touching Windows for a half hour tends to present me with several unresolvable choices like this. I can see why Win users are paranoid about their computer and dependent on I.T. for the most trivial adjustments.

My favourite is installer dialogues that offers “Yes”, “No”, “Cancel”, and a close “X”. Choice is good for users, no?

John, mon ami, you are discussing a different genre of “design” than Smileycat is. I assume you agree that graphic design of a Web page has naught in common with interaction design of a software dialogue box.

Damn, you're picking on a 7 year old installer? That's awesome.

You can tell by the comments on this post who is a Mac user and who is a PC user! The Mac users try to understand why an operating system would present a user with this kind of crap, whilst Windows users try and explain what the dialogue box means.

>Windows users try and explain what the dialogue box means
That's a major point of the article. They shouldn't have to try to explain it.

Sure, I agree that its a really daft error message, but its from office 2003. Whats the use of banging on about a problem from a piece of software thats 7-8 years old. There are new versions of that out now. How about you get something a bit more modern and then find issues to complain about.

I would have done it that way:

Office had to copy a large amount of files during installation. Do you want get rid of those?
Keep the files / clear space and remove files

Even in the new versions of Office and Windows there's still TOO MUCH this kind of dialogue boxes that ask questions USER DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. They just hit OK or YES because they want to get things done. It's bad design and makes PCs difficult to use.

I was presented with this stupid sequence of dialogue boxes when updating Office for Mac the other day.

http://danwarne.com/office-update-stupidity.jpg

Yep, before the updater would finish updating, I had to close the updater.

The dialog asks if you are "certain". Obviously you're not - like everyone else, probably including the programmer who wrote it - so just answer "no" and get on with your life.

oma: Absolutely awesome. I lol'd

It seems the gist of this blog and the comments that followed was that dialog boxes should be more descriptive. This is interesting, because I remember a time a few years ago when people were railing against dialog boxes that got in the way, being TOO descriptive.

I believe there's a happy medium. Only use dialog boxes if they are absolutely needed, and when you do, provide the information that is absolutely needed for absolute clarity.

Yes it's bad, to be fair on the developers this is a limitation of most programming APIs. We don't create dialog boxes simply to change the button text - the API only allows us to specify the buttons to be included, not their text. You typically have a choice of Yes/No/Cancel/Continue and that's it. That alternative is to write your own dialog.

Holy crap, your design skills are circa 1998. People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Might I suggest squarespace?

Of course you can suggest it.
But only once, k?

that's why developer can't be the UI Expert.. LoL

Brian: I know exactly what it's asking -- You're installing, there's a source for the installation, apparently in this case it's in the cache. Are you certain you want to remove it?

Yes = I'm certain, please remove it
No = I'm uncertain, please don't remove it, I'll figure it out later or just ignore it forever.

Brian, you're missing the point.

Yes, a skilled user knows what does cache mean in this situation and why you might want to keep install source in cache.

But no average user knows what cache and install source really mean in this situation and why would install source be left in cache.

So then average user makes a decision based on nothing: Yes or no.

Here's the problem. She doesn't really understand the terms, the description and she doesn't understand what the options to proceed mean.

Windows is such a easy to use and user friendly system that it makes user experience a blast - every day!

This is why IT geeks shouldn't be left to write error messages.

That is so true, so people just don't know what they are talking about :) and they get very top and important company positions...

I might enrage people (not my intention, though) but... I would have to say go mac. No more hassle and annoyances, no mor registries...

For more of high resolution concreate texture you can visit my site.

Thanks

Interface messages (including errors) and UI design should always go hand in hand. When you design a front-end UI or back-end CMS, every word you choose to present to the user, error messages included, should be written so that a 10-year-old can understand it... that can't be stressed enough these days.

Google has always been one of the best when it comes to easy-to-understand buttons, labels and messages. Microsoft has always been one of the worst.