Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!barmar
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Subject: Re: Dialog Modality
Message-ID: <1991Apr3.001712.25569@Think.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
References: <593@genco.bungi.com> <1991Mar27.121607.9672@maths.tcd.ie> <ROBERTK.91Apr2125055@lotatg.lotus.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 00:17:12 GMT

In article <ROBERTK.91Apr2125055@lotatg.lotus.com> robertk@lotatg.lotus.com (Robert Krajewski) writes:
>Well, that's not entirely fair -- would it really make sense for a
>standard file dialog to *not* be modal ?

Sure it would.  In a "Save As" dialog, when I'm typing in the new name, I
might want to use operations in the Edit menu to fix what I've entered.

A better example would be all the dialogs one has to go through when
printing.  Suppose you've filled in all the printing parameters in all the
dialog boxes, and then realize that you forgot to change something to bold.
You have to cancel, make your change, and then go through it again.  Why
not bring the document window to the top, make the change, bring the
printing options dialog back up and click on "OK"?

An example where it *was* done right is the "Find" command in most word
processors.  I would have expected this to be modal, but it generally
isn't.
--
Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com
{uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
