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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Message

Reference

Description

A message is a persistent cue that consists of information displayed in a secondary window in response to an unexpected event, a situation in which something undesirable could occur, or when there is additional status information on a process that has completed. The five types of messages are error message, information message, in-progress message, question message, and warning message.

When to Use

Recommended
Use a message to report unexpected or undesirable situations to the user that require some user action or decision.

Recommended
Use a message to indicate that a task has completed successfully, but there is additional information available about the completion status of the task.

Recommended
Use a message to indicate that a process is in progress.

Guidelines

Required
Phrase message text so that a user clearly understands what caused the message as well as what action, if any, can be taken to correct the situation that caused the message.

Required
When wording the messages displayed by your application, do not assume that the user has any expert knowledge about computer systems in general or the operating system in particular. You can assume that the user has knowledge about basic interface terms that could have been learned through tutorials, help information, and user documentation. However, avoid terminology that is typically understood only by an expert or knowledgeable computer user unless the application is specifically targeted at computer professionals. Also, messages returned to your application by the underlying system should not be passed directly to the user, but instead should be interpreted into language the novice user can understand.

Recommended
Avoid phrasing messages in a way that requires a Yes or No response from the user. If you use Yes and No push buttons, avoid using negatives in the message text. For example, do not use the message: 
Are you sure you don't want to save the file?

Instead, use: 

File has been modified.
 
Choose `Discard' to throw away changes or 
 
`Save' to save the file and then quit.

Required
If a window associated with the task or element for which the task is being performed is open, display the message in a secondary window that depends on the associated window.

Required
If no associated window is open for a task being performed and for which an urgent message must be displayed, then display the message in a secondary window and, optionally, display the task's window if such a window exists.

Required
If no associated window is open for the task being performed and for which a nonurgent message needs to be displayed, then place the message in a secondary window, but do not display it. Optionally, change the appearance of the icon through which the window can be displayed if such a window exists.

Recommended
If you provide a message identifier in a message window, place it in the bottom rightmost corner of the message and display it in a smaller font than the rest of the message text. For information on bidirectional and vertical language support, see Chapter 11.

Recommended

Provide a Help push button in all messages, except those that contain trivial or self-explanatory messages. Design your application with both the expert and novice user in mind. The novice user must be able to access additional explanatory information, the circumstances under which it was displayed, and what the user should do in response to the message.

Recommended
Use Table 17 to determine which predefined push buttons to use in messages.

Table 17. Push Buttons for Various Message Types

Type of Window Push Buttons (Listed in relative order of appearance) Result of Close Choice in Window Menu Result of Enter Key Result of Esc Key
Error message action name (optional) Retry Cancel Help Cancel (if supported, otherwise a nondestructive action) Retry (if supported, otherwise a nondestructive action) Cancel (if supported, otherwise a nondestructive action)
Question message Yes No Help Choice of Yes/No that does not lose data Choice of Yes/No that does not lose data Choice of Yes/No that does not lose data
Information message OK Help OK OK OK
In-progress message Close Stop (optional) Pause and Resume (both optional) Help Close Pause if supported, otherwise Close Stop if supported, otherwise Close
Warning message Action name (optional) Continue Cancel Help Cancel (if supported, or else a nondestructive action) Nondestructive action Cancel (if supported, otherwise a nondestructive action)

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see Chapter 11 and the Action Message, Information and Message Areas (Area), Information Message, In-Progress Message, and Push Button (Predefined) reference pages.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Warning Signal reference page.

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