The problem is that too many dialogs are designed to require reading an overly verbose message when in reality the vast majority of the time the 2 or 3 words on an appropriately named button are all the context a user needs.
If I initiate a format on a drive volume I don't need a lecture on what a format does and what the risks are, I know them already, I just need a confirmation step.
> If I initiate a format on a drive volume I don't need a lecture on what a format does and what the risks are, I know them already, I just need a confirmation step.
When I was 12, I compressed drive C:\ in the hope more free space will be available. I think I'd have benefited from a lecture in the application.
I'm not quite clear on your point here. Did the compression cause problems? Did it keep reserved space so you still didn't have any free? Compression on a slow hard drive should generally improve performance and at the very least shrinking files means fewer fragmentation problems.
If you wanted the software to warn you it was buggy before you turned it on, haha good luck.
I don't recall all the details, but it was Windows 95 times. This embedded system utility basically zipped the root directory and rendered the computer unable to boot. I could have saved my parents a headache if I had been aware of the consequences.
My point was that there are scenarios where data can be lost and a quick ok/cancel dialog with a short summary is not enough. Even when we know what we're doing a reminder of consequences is sometimes helpful to look at.
You know what formatting means, my grandmother does not. For the sake of less tech savvy users there should be a warning if the operation is dangerous in the sense that it will delete data. Maybe not as part of the question but as a sentence before, in another paragraph, so that you can easily skim it, while others may read it.
That's exactly the point though - you want to make the UI deep. Ideally when I hit "Format" I should get a confirmation dialog warning that I'll irreversibly erase things, with an "expand" button for more information. But, as a power user the correct button to hit should be self-evident without actually reading the dialog at all.
This way the user can go as deep or shallow as they want without losing context.
Agreed. 2/3 words on a button allows those who know what they're doing (or think they know) to make the decision quickly, and leaves the dialog text to give a bit more explanation for those that need it and would choose to read it.
If I initiate a format on a drive volume I don't need a lecture on what a format does and what the risks are, I know them already, I just need a confirmation step.