Re: [Gnumed-devel] Navigation in allergy manager

[J Busser]

On Apr 27, 2007, at 3:51 PM, Karsten Hilbert wrote:

> > Is there any reason to label the "cancel" button "dismiss"? Most  
> > english
> > programs I know stick to "cancel".
> That is because "dismiss" is not the same as "cancel". To
> cancel implies aborting an action which typically includes
> throwing away unsaved data. To dismiss (or close) on the
> other hand simply closes/dismisses the widget/dialog/window
> the button is clicked in.
>
> It's probably a fine and fuzzy line.

i agree that Cancel implies aborting, even though the distinction is  
usually not respected in softwares.

Any of Dismiss or Close or Exit may serve better *unless* this widget  
were "called" as part of a multi-step procedure... if it were helpful  
to be able to abort such a process, and the widget could be aware,  
then the button could display a contextually-appropriate value (like  
"Cancel"). The challenge here might be the method of reliably  
returning the user to a suitable level in the "abort" hierarchy.

But until such time as we may have contextually-defined buttons,  
would either "Close" or "Exit" be better-understood -- by more people  
-- than Dismiss?