Every now and then, I come across applications that, when clicking on the main window's "X", ask me whether I'm sure that I want to quit the application.
I'm not talking about asking me to save unsaved documents, but about applications that aren't document related at all.
This always bothers me, since I feel totally interrupted in my workflow. I was already thinking two steps ahead of what I want to do next, and this message box abruptly pulls 100% of my attention.
My question:
Are there any valid use cases where a non-document-centric application should ask me whether I'm sure that I want to exit the application?
Answer
There are certain conditions under which it is useful:
- When the close/exit button/link is placed near to some other button or link. In such cases, to avoid accidental exits, the confirm dialog is useful and prevents that.
- When there is an existing process is in progress in the application and user clicked on exit button. In this case, to be sure and to inform the user about the ongoing process, the confirm dialog is useful.
- You already mentioned the unsaved changes condition.
Apart from these, I don't find any other usage worth the irritation and bad experience the confirm dialog offers. So, yes it's not good to ask user before exiting the application except the conditions mentioned above.
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