Going beyond the last blogs topic on error dialogs, we wanted to go a bit further with these Vista style dialogs and use them in assisting the user in non-error situations as well. This gets a bit more critical for the advanced user, since he might get annoyed by this, so the option inside each dialog to not show this message again is extra important here (they can be re-activated at any point on a dedicated tab of the new Settings dialog).
One example of this approach is the Immunization start dialog on Vista:
Vistas UAC might be annoying to some users, but as an advocate of the concept (just maybe not in the realization of its support in many end user software), we want to support the user in using it properly.
The key here: applications should not always require elevation - that's a requrement described by Microsoft in their Certification rulebook, and imho important to keep the annoyance factor of UAC low. The modularization described in an earlier 2.0 blog post allows us to restart just the required part (the immunization) with just a click and a fast loading time here. And giving the user a choice allows non-admins to still use it in their allowed scope, as well as ask an admin to log in for them if wanted.
Another key here is offering the user details on what his choices are, and how they affect the operation, instead of just giving him a Yes/No choice that needs more careful reading to understand what the Yes and what the No means.
A second example might be the start dialog of RunAlyzer, which will now become, optimized in startup time, the new Tools section replacement of the Spybot-S&D package. This dialog was custom made, but has now been adjusted to show the same Vista style:
The elevation shown as the last topic will only show if applicable of course. Again, we offer to automatically get rid of the dialog when loading is finished (now quite fast, mich will happen later in the background when you need it). Choices are explained to the user. And still, he can at all times decide to ignore the dialog and proceed like he wants if he already knows the app.
That's it for today from the 2.0 front; your comments are again very welcome. Let us know if you feel this is helpful, or too intruding and you would want to do without such suggestions from the app.
One example of this approach is the Immunization start dialog on Vista:
Vistas UAC might be annoying to some users, but as an advocate of the concept (just maybe not in the realization of its support in many end user software), we want to support the user in using it properly.
The key here: applications should not always require elevation - that's a requrement described by Microsoft in their Certification rulebook, and imho important to keep the annoyance factor of UAC low. The modularization described in an earlier 2.0 blog post allows us to restart just the required part (the immunization) with just a click and a fast loading time here. And giving the user a choice allows non-admins to still use it in their allowed scope, as well as ask an admin to log in for them if wanted.
Another key here is offering the user details on what his choices are, and how they affect the operation, instead of just giving him a Yes/No choice that needs more careful reading to understand what the Yes and what the No means.
A second example might be the start dialog of RunAlyzer, which will now become, optimized in startup time, the new Tools section replacement of the Spybot-S&D package. This dialog was custom made, but has now been adjusted to show the same Vista style:
The elevation shown as the last topic will only show if applicable of course. Again, we offer to automatically get rid of the dialog when loading is finished (now quite fast, mich will happen later in the background when you need it). Choices are explained to the user. And still, he can at all times decide to ignore the dialog and proceed like he wants if he already knows the app.
That's it for today from the 2.0 front; your comments are again very welcome. Let us know if you feel this is helpful, or too intruding and you would want to do without such suggestions from the app.
(And maybe some donations as well. 
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