Re: Modal Dialogs on the Macintosh

[straz@cambridge.apple.com (Steve Strassmann)]

At 11:44 AM 4/27/95, Tom Bonura wrote:
 >>In our group we just finished an application that mainly consists of a
 >>sequence of modal dialogs.
 >>
 >>We had some discussion in the group whether this is allowed by the
 >>interface guidelines or should be considered poor style.

Tom's right about the Mac HI Guidelines book. It's really wonderful,
and I highly recommend it. It's available through most computer
bookstores, or through APDA.

My gut reaction is yes, modal dialogs are almost always horrible
and should only be used as a last resort. It's very hard for me
to imagine a situation that justifies a series of them. It sounds
like you want something like a "slide show", and you should provide
GO NEXT buttons (and possibly GO BACKWARDS as well). There's no need
for the slide show window itself to be modal.