Chapter 22 -- Unnecessary Dialog Boxes Are Evil

Chapter 22

When your program needs additional information to perform a command, often the easiest solution is to present a dialog box and have the user tell the program what to do. This is also sometimes the best approach, but it isn't always. In fact, usually it is the best approach only when all other alternatives fail.

The idea that dialog boxes are undesirable might come as a surprise to you. After all, dialog boxes are fundamental to modern user interfaces. A well-designed dialog box is easy to understand and use, and dialog boxes are also relatively easy to program. Dialog boxes are all over the place in good Microsoft Windows programs. But while in general dialog boxes are an effective user interface, they become harmful when used in situations where they aren't necessary. Necessary dialog boxes are good, but unnecessary ones should be avoided.

In this chapter, I'll look at when dialog boxes are necessary and when they are unnecessary. I'll also present some common ways to eliminate unnecessary dialog boxes. Note that most of this discussion pertains to modal dialog boxes, as modeless dialog boxes typically are not a problem. One type of unnecessary dialog box that I won't discuss is the unnecessary message box, which is the subject of the next chapter.