You Are Not Done Yet: Dialog Box Look And Feel

You are not done testing yet unless…you have checked the following points for each and every dialog box in your application:

• Verify that the menu command which launches the dialog ends with an ellipsis (e.g., "Create New Document..."). This is the convention on Microsoft Windows at least; for other operating systems check your style guide.
• Verify that the size of each control and spacing between each pair of controls matches that specified by your style guide.
• Verify that the dialog box is sized correctly relative to its controls.
• Verify that ninchable controls display correctly (per your style guide) when they are ninched. (Generally, they should grey out or otherwise make obvious their ninched state.)
• Verify that any samples in the dialog reflect the actual contents and formatting of the current document. Or reconsider showing samples! <g/> Dialogs which affect document formatting often purport to preview the effect its settings will have on the active document. Bringing the actual document (or an appropriate piece, such as the current selection) into the preview greatly enhances the value of the preview. If your preview simply presents some preset, made up content that hopefully looks somewhat like the real document, you might as well not have a preview at all.

All this fit-and-finish stuff can seem like a waste of time, but it matters. Although they likely aren't conscious of it, these details affect people's evaluation of your product's quality just as much as how often it crashes does. In fact, if the first impression a potential customer has is that your application is unpolished, they will tend to view the rest of their experience through that lens as well. So polish that chrome!

Posted by The Braidy Tester at 07:30 AM  Permalink