New KMessageBox Style

[Richard Hartmann]

On Feb 2, 2008 5:36 PM, Dmitry Suzdalev <dimsuzkde at gmail.com> wrote:


> In the software of company I work for we have a special message box class that
> displays message boxes with short and long message parts. The short one is
> general description of what have happened (shown with bold font), the long one
> contains more detailed explanation for the user (shown with normal font). Long
> one could be omitted of course, but this is discouraged.

I like this idea. It is basically what I tried to do with the KSSL
error messages
(no, this is not a shameless plug, even though these lines probably mak it
appear even more so. It is just to show that others have come up with the same
basic concept).

[Error] messages should always try to give the user a short and simple
statement.
Directly after that, they should give information that enables
advanced users to go
hunt the root cause.


To get back on topic, I agree that the icons in the various messages are _the_
marker for what is going on. If I do something and get a box that looks like it
means 'Everything OK', I rarely read it. Hugely different to my reaction when I
get a warning and/or error. While the scheme proposed by Urs is, in fact,
pretty, I do not think it is suited to present important messages. Same goes for
DrKonqui, btw ;)

Last but not least, I think that coloring of the whole box to indicate
what it is
displaying has a lot of potential. Potential to emphasize, not to
replace, icons,
mind.


Richard