Pop-up Window vs. Dialog Box?

Subject: Pop-up Window vs. Dialog Box?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>, Keith Hansen <KRH -at- weiland-wfg -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 11:45:24 -0400

Keith Hansen wonders: <<The MS Manual of Style says the following: "Do not use pop-up window as a synonym for dialog box.">>

Unusually, I find myself agreeing with them. I guess it had to happen eventually! <g>

<<Well, as it happens, I have seen these two terms used interchangeably sometimes. Can anyone clarify for me the exact difference between the two? With examples of the proper use of each?>>

If I'm remembering correctly from my long-ago and increasingly vague memories of programming, "pop-up window" is a programming-influenced term, since pretty much anything that appears onscreen as a new object in a GUI can be considered a window. (Anyone remember the Pascal language? <g>) Thus, the wording focuses more on the technical nature of the window than on what the window means from the user's perspective, and that's only a good choice when you're writing for programmers.

In contrast, "dialog box" focuses on things from the user's perspective: it emphasizes that you're conducting a dialogue with the computer (even if, in practice, the computer does what it wants to do anyway and largely ignores your opinion on the matter). Thus, it's generally the preferred term. Even then, it's better to focus on the user's action where the context permits that.

I can see an argument for "pop-up window" for Web pages, but even then, it's a weak argument. "New window" is generally clearer. In fact, about the only place I've used "pop-up" is for those concealed menus inside dialog boxes. Main menus (the ones at the top of the screen) are just "menus", so I occasionally found it useful to say "pop-up menu" to distinguish between the two. But even then, I was never convinced this was an effective choice, and tried to focus on the action ("click the tiny, nearly invisible triangle to display the list of choices") rather than on the object ("display the pop-up menu and choose...").

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Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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References:
Pop-up Window vs. Dialog Box: From: Keith Hansen

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