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8. GUIDELINES FOR DIALOGS
A dialog is a ‘‘pop-up’’ window that is launched from an application and refers to the view in the background. When a
dialog is opened, the focus is on the dialog and the background is dimmed (Figure 18).
A dialog has no menu.
The UI should be designed so that the hierarchy of dialogs does not exceed three steps, i.e. there are, at most, three
overlapping dialogs at a time. Otherwise, navigation might become impossible to deal with.
Graphically, a dialog consists of the dialog frame, a shadow behind the frame, a title, a list or a table, and other
generic controls.
Dialogs are centred in relation to the application area beneath, and the subsequent dialogs are centred in relation to
the dialogs beneath them again. All dialogs beneath the uppermost dialog are dimmed. The pixel dimensions of the
dialog are specified in chapter 0.
Figure 14: A dialog on top of another dialog
8.1 Guidelines for dialogs
8.1.1 Number of items in setting dialogs
A dialog fits five lines of text or else a control height of a maximum of 134 pixels.
Do not overcrowd the dialogs; avoid dialogs that require scrolling.
8.1.2 Avoid additional commands
Try to avoid commands in the CBA more complicated than OK, Close, Cancel, etc. In cases when a command in the
CBA opens a separate dialog, the use e.g. of a Multipage Dialog, for example, can often yield a better result.
8.1.3 Make the title informative
The title of a dialog should provide the name of the command that activated that specific dialog. However, sometimes
it is better to have longer dialog titles as they give more information to the user.
The maximum text string width for a dialog title is approximately 36 characters.
8.1.4 Informative strings (annotation text)
When text strings are for informative purposes only, i.e. they cannot be edited, the text strings are shown in italics.
Additional text may help the user to understand technical terms better. There is a separator between the annotation
text and editable (selectable) list.
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