Position of Buttons in Dialog Boxes

wrightsl · 10-25-2014, 04:44 AM

When did the buttons in the dialog boxes get moved? I have just upgraded and the buttons have moved. This is a disaster ! I have been using calibre for so long that I do not look at the buttons but automatically put the mouse in the right place! No graphical User Interface that I have ever used ( and I have been involved with computers for over 40 years) has had the OK button on the left, it is ALWAYS the rightmost button. All the UI standards and design advice is to put the affirmative button on the right and the most negative on the left. Please change back to the correct positioning ASAP

kovidgoyal · 10-25-2014, 05:07 AM

Umm, select a file in Windows Explorer, press the delete key, the OK button is on the left.

kovidgoyal · 10-25-2014, 05:13 AM

If you are talking about OS X, then OK buttons are on the right in both OSX native dialogs and in calibre.

AnotherCat · 10-25-2014, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrightsl

...All the UI standards and design advice is to put the affirmative button on the right and the most negative on the left...

The guidelines for MS Windows applications, so those for approximately 95% of the installed PC OS base worldwide, are the opposite to what you claim (for example, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr.../dn742499.aspx ). They state from left to right:

"Present the commit buttons in the following order:

OK/[Do it]/Yes
[Don't do it]/No
Cancel
Apply (if present)
Help (if present)"

As far as I have ever seen this guideline is generally adhered to for Windows applications, Calibre included.

chaley · 10-25-2014, 05:15 PM

Ignore me

BetterRed · 10-25-2014, 06:53 PM

Apart from conforming to the standards/conventions on the placement of buttons, calibre does something else that many applications don't do. This is to honour the mouse pointer Snap To setting.

I wonder if the OPs problem is due to that setting being turned off, on Win7 its normally at the Control Panel->Mouse->Pointer Options tab - I have a gut feeling the default setting is off.

BR

wrightsl · 10-25-2014, 10:45 PM

I am running on Linux Mint 17 (and various other Linux distros) and the buttons used to be with OK on the right (at least from Ubuntu Karmic onwards), it has now changed. Is their some preferences that I can set to return it to the old locations? Windows has always gone against Unix/Linux/Mac and other good GUI designs.

kovidgoyal · 10-25-2014, 11:01 PM

Button layout order in linux depends on the desktop environment. KDE uses OK buttons on the left, copying windows, while GNOME copies OS X, for instance. In any case, it is Qt that chooses the button order, you will likely have to wait for your distro to add support for Qt 5 with a Qt 5 theme, and then use that system theme in Preferences->Look & Feel->User interface style.

kovidgoyal · 10-25-2014, 11:37 PM

I looked into ti and figured out a way to force Qt 5 to use GNOME button layouts under the GNOME, UNITY and MATE desktop environments, even when not using the system theme.

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...45044b42600575

cybmole · 10-26-2014, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Apart from conforming to the standards/conventions on the placement of buttons, calibre does something else that many applications don't do. This is to honour the mouse pointer Snap To setting.

BR

it would be great if the various plugins also did that e.g. modify epub, count pages- those are the ones htat I use most.

I do see that calibre now puts the plug in pop ups in a better & consistent location - they used to sometimes appear part-way off my screen - and it brings them up with a little animation

eschwartz · 10-26-2014, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I looked into ti and figured out a way to force Qt 5 to use GNOME button layouts under the GNOME, UNITY and MATE desktop environments, even when not using the system theme.

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...45044b42600575

You forgot one.

Cinnamon is a recent GNOME3 fork, and conforms to the traditional GNOME button layout.

kovidgoyal · 10-26-2014, 03:38 PM

I have no idea what Cinammon sets for XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, most likely it is GNOME, in which case it should just work, if not somebdy that runs it needs to post

env | grep XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

AnotherCat · 10-26-2014, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Apart from conforming to the standards/conventions on the placement of buttons, calibre does something else that many applications don't do. This is to honour the mouse pointer Snap To setting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

it would be great if the various plugins also did that e.g. modify epub, count pages- those are the ones htat I use most.

Cybmole:

The Modify Epub plugin snaps to setting (to "OK") for me on Windows platform (one must, of course, enable it in "Mouse Pointer Options" or set "Smartmove" if using the commonly used Logitech control).

I cannot comment on the Count Pages plugin as I don't use it, nor on the behaviour on other OSs.

eschwartz · 10-26-2014, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I have no idea what Cinammon sets for XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, most likely it is GNOME, in which case it should just work, if not somebdy that runs it needs to post

env | grep XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

On ArchLinux, using cinnamon-desktop:

Code:

X-Cinnamon

kovidgoyal · 10-26-2014, 10:08 PM

OK, though according to http://standards.freedesktop.org/men...atest/apb.html it should be CINNAMON, but I've added both.

10-25-2014, 04:44 AM	#1
wrightsl Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: Kobo Touch	Position of Buttons in Dialog Boxes When did the buttons in the dialog boxes get moved? I have just upgraded and the buttons have moved. This is a disaster ! I have been using calibre for so long that I do not look at the buttons but automatically put the mouse in the right place! No graphical User Interface that I have ever used ( and I have been involved with computers for over 40 years) has had the OK button on the left, it is ALWAYS the rightmost button. All the UI standards and design advice is to put the affirmative button on the right and the most negative on the left. Please change back to the correct positioning ASAP

10-25-2014, 05:15 PM	#5
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,739 Karma: 6997045 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	Ignore me Last edited by chaley; 10-25-2014 at 05:20 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Find/Replace text into both dialog boxes	Steadyhands	Sigil	5	02-25-2013 02:51 PM
White text on white background in dialog boxes	Kikker123	Kobo Tablets	1	12-24-2011 06:20 PM
Dialog boxes do not show text	=X=	Nook Developer's Corner	5	01-03-2011 07:51 PM
Boxes and boxes of books	Elsi	Lounge	14	07-22-2008 08:04 PM

10-25-2014, 05:07 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Umm, select a file in Windows Explorer, press the delete key, the OK button is on the left.

10-25-2014, 05:13 AM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	If you are talking about OS X, then OK buttons are on the right in both OSX native dialogs and in calibre.

10-25-2014, 06:53 PM	#6
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,565 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Apart from conforming to the standards/conventions on the placement of buttons, calibre does something else that many applications don't do. This is to honour the mouse pointer Snap To setting. I wonder if the OPs problem is due to that setting being turned off, on Win7 its normally at the Control Panel->Mouse->Pointer Options tab - I have a gut feeling the default setting is off. BR

10-25-2014, 10:45 PM	#7
wrightsl Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: Kobo Touch	I am running on Linux Mint 17 (and various other Linux distros) and the buttons used to be with OK on the right (at least from Ubuntu Karmic onwards), it has now changed. Is their some preferences that I can set to return it to the old locations? Windows has always gone against Unix/Linux/Mac and other good GUI designs.

10-25-2014, 11:01 PM	#8
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Button layout order in linux depends on the desktop environment. KDE uses OK buttons on the left, copying windows, while GNOME copies OS X, for instance. In any case, it is Qt that chooses the button order, you will likely have to wait for your distro to add support for Qt 5 with a Qt 5 theme, and then use that system theme in Preferences->Look & Feel->User interface style.

10-25-2014, 11:37 PM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I looked into ti and figured out a way to force Qt 5 to use GNOME button layouts under the GNOME, UNITY and MATE desktop environments, even when not using the system theme. https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...45044b42600575

10-26-2014, 03:38 PM	#12
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I have no idea what Cinammon sets for XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, most likely it is GNOME, in which case it should just work, if not somebdy that runs it needs to post env \| grep XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP

10-26-2014, 10:08 PM	#15
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,850 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	OK, though according to http://standards.freedesktop.org/men...atest/apb.html it should be CINNAMON, but I've added both.

Advert

Advert