Usage
Alerts have several typical uses:
- Error: informs the user than an operation could not continue or complete due to some insurmountable error.
- Warning: alerts that the current course of action could be in some way dangerous or detrimental, often offering the option of not proceeding.
- Info: presents a general notification about a recent event.
- Question: elicits some kind of response from the user, required to complete the current process.
Warning and question alerts typically offer two opposite options to close the dialog ("Allow/Deny", "OK/Cancel", "Yes/No") with the implicit assumption that one will proceed with the paused process that triggered the dialog, and the other one will interrupt the process without action.
A good practice in interface design, often included in Human Interface Guidelines, is to label each option with the precise effect that it will have on the process (for example, "Save/Don't save" in a dialog triggered while editing a document with unsaved changes).
Read more about this topic: Alert Dialog Box
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