GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 556773
cell overwrite dialog needs love
Last modified: 2008-10-18 16:19:22 UTC
When you select a (range of) cell(s) and drag somewhere where it covers a (range of) already used cell(s) a dialog will pop up. This dialog reads: The cells dragged will overwrite the contents of the existing cells in that range. Do you want me to replace the contents in this region? [ no ] [ yes ] Issues: - This dialog descends in "yes no hell"; - It is rather long ("the contents [...]" might be dropped without loss of meaning); - Both source and destination are plural ("cells") even if only one cell is dragged or overwritten; - What does "that range" refer to? - What does "this region" refer to? Other information: Dragging a (range of) cell(s) can be undone. Is this dialog really needed?
What is "yes no hell"?
A term that Matthew Paul Thomas coined with his essay "Yes No Hell: Don't use "Yes" and "No" for button labels". Hard to find now, but see: http://web.archive.org/web/20051125140549/mpt.phrasewise.com/stories/storyReader$4
I'm not really worried over a single use of yes/no. > Dragging a (range of) cell(s) can be undone. Is this dialog really needed? This, however, is an interesting thought. I think the dialog may date back to pre-undo times.
"Do you really want to do what do what you just told me to do?" I am usually horribly annoyed by such questions. This is probably one of the few cases where I haven't been annoyed since more often than not I really didn't want to drag those cells. But of course undo would be just as fast. So I think this dialog should really go...
Created attachment 120824 [details] [review] proposed patch Attached is a proposed patch to remove this dialog. (I have at this time omitted the NEWS and ChangeLog entry which is also needed.)
Go for it.
This problem has been fixed in the development version. The fix will be available in the next major software release. Thank you for your bug report.