Update dialog not intuitive

[waitepb]

When I started Designer this morning it told me that there was an update available.
The dialog had two options; first was "OK" and the second was "Download";  both have positive connotations, neither suggest "not now".
The task of the dialog is to offer the chance to upgrade, so "OK" (the first and thus dominant option) can be considered to mean, "OK" upgrade now. 
You could read it as meaning "OK...so what, go away and don't bug me", but that takes a particular mindset that is not the norm.

I suggest it would be better/clearer to make the first option "Download" and the second option "Dismiss" or "Cancel" - something that sounds more like "not now".

[carl123]

Lots of pop-up messages use "OK" just as a way to say you have acknowledged the pop-up rather than to perform some other definitive action.

But I can see how it might confuse some people

 

[waitepb]

Thanks for that, it's a good point, but in those examples they tell you where to go to do the thing they are informing you about.
So the implied message is "this is the situation, if you want to do something about it, go here"...to which a single "OK" is a reasonable response.
In this case the implied message is "there's an update, what do you want to do?" to which "OK" doesn't fit so well as the "don't download" alternative.

As a separate but connected point, I could not find anywhere in the menu structure of Designer where I could check for, or trigger, the update.
Having chosen "OK" because I thought it meant "Update now" and that "Download" meant "just download it and I'll do it later", I had to close the program and restart it to trigger the dialog again and make the other choice.

[carl123]

5 minutes ago, waitepb said:

 I could not find anywhere in the menu structure of Designer where I could check for, or trigger, the update.

That does not exists

You only get the "update available" message whenever you fire up the app

[waitepb]

1 minute ago, carl123 said:

That does not exists

You only get the "update available" message whenever you fire up the app

...which enhances the disappointment of "OK" not meaning "OK - upgrade now" because I have to go out and come in again to trigger the side effect of offering the upgrade again.

Anyway, I'm not here to troll you, it's just my suggestion for how to make the experience better. If you think how it is now is ideal then we shall just have to disagree.🙂

[JET_Affinity]

2 hours ago, waitepb said:

When I started Designer this morning it told me that there was an update available.
The dialog had two options; first was "OK" and the second was "Download";  both have positive connotations, neither suggest "not now".
The task of the dialog is to offer the chance to upgrade, so "OK" (the first and thus dominant option) can be considered to mean, "OK" upgrade now. 
You could read it as meaning "OK...so what, go away and don't bug me", but that takes a particular mindset that is not the norm.

I suggest it would be better/clearer to make the first option "Download" and the second option "Dismiss" or "Cancel" - something that sounds more like "not now".

I agree. "Later" or "Remind Me Later" Is better than "OK." And there's nothing wrong with including the "Don't remind me again" checkbox, followed by an alert that says "You can select Check For Updates in the Help menu at any time."

JET

[markw]

2 hours ago, waitepb said:

I could not find anywhere in the menu structure of Designer where I could check for, or trigger, the update

This screenshot is from Publisher but it’s the same for all three apps if bought directly from Serif.
But I agree with you that the wording on the Update window could be improved.

[waitepb]

23 minutes ago, markw said:

This screenshot is from Publisher but it’s the same for all three apps if bought directly from Serif.
But I agree with you that the wording on the Update window could be improved.

Thanks, but maybe that is Mac only? 
No such menu item in the PC version (bought direct from Serif). I thought it might be hidden in Help/Support... or Help/About... options but no.

[walt.farrell]

41 minutes ago, markw said:

This screenshot is from Publisher but it’s the same for all three apps if bought directly from Serif.
But I agree with you that the wording on the Update window could be improved.

That's a Mac-only option.

[Pšenda]

2 hours ago, JET_Affinity said:

with including the "Don't remind me again" checkbox,

Will this option apply to all future updates and upgrades? Or just for the specific version currently on offer?

[JET_Affinity]

On ‎4‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 10:15 AM, Pšenda said:

Will this option apply to all future updates and upgrades? Or just for the specific version currently on offer?

I would expect it to stop all auto-notifications of new versions. But I'm old enough to remember when software didn't ever automatically tell me there was an update or a newer version available because there was no internet by which it could exploit bandwidth that I pay for to phone home every freakin' time I launched it.

For example, I'm still using Illustrator CS6 because I won't rent software. I don't get any notifications about the availability of every piddling update to CC versions or downgrades to CC versions. And I sure don't miss 'em.

My newest motorcycle has a digital screen as its 'instrument cluster'. It doesn't throw up an alert whenever KTM introduces a new model.

Yet.

But I won't be surprised…

JET

[fde101]

All of this is a great example of why it is a violation of Apple's human interface guidelines to name a button "OK" - they are all supposed to be verbs.  "OK" is not a verb.

In this case, I would name that button "Close" or something similar to that.

Better yet, replace it with "Remind me later" and "Ignore this version" buttons...

 

On 4/24/2020 at 5:38 AM, waitepb said:

"Cancel"

While "Cancel" is indeed a verb, you can't cancel the fact that a newer version is available (only Serif can do that) so I'm not sure that is the best choice of name either.  "Dismiss" is better, but I suspect "Close" would be sufficient and more in keeping with other applications?

[Pšenda]

On 4/24/2020 at 12:06 PM, waitepb said:

Having chosen "OK" because I thought it meant "Update now"

I'm sorry, but the message only talks about the availability of a new version. Nowhere does it say about performing an update.
So OK clearly means - "Yes, I acknowledge the message, I take note of its contents". This is, after all, the meaning of the OK button, a shorter version of the acceptance of the message content.

[waitepb]

On 4/28/2020 at 9:53 AM, Pšenda said:

I'm sorry, but the message only talks about the availability of a new version. Nowhere does it say about performing an update.
So OK clearly means - "Yes, I acknowledge the message, I take note of its contents". This is, after all, the meaning of the OK button, a shorter version of the acceptance of the message content.

While I have to accept that, semantically, you are correct, I hope that you can see that this just means that the dialog is not wrong.
It doesn't mean that the dialog cannot be made better.
This is my goal - to have the dialog offer clear "update now" or "ignore for now" options. Not options that have to be interpreted in any way.

[GarryP]

It seemed a good time to bump this issue up again.
(There are other threads which mention the same thing but this one seems to have most of the relevant arguments.)