Reading and Thinking About Dialogue Boxes

1. Reading and Thinking About Dialogue Boxes Created by Liat Rothfeld December 5, 2010 Begin

2. Lily spent a whole class period creating an illustration in MS Paint. She went to File-Save, gave it a name, and clicked Save. When she went to open it the next day, it was GONE! • The picture below shows what Lily’s screen looked like right before she clicked Save. Look at the picture. What did Lily do wrong? (Read all of the choices before choosing the best answer.) She clicked File – Save As, but should have clicked File – Save. She named it “Sunny day.” There shouldn’t be any spaces in the File Name. She didn’t save it in her H drive.

3. Oops! • If you are saving a picture for the first time, clicking File-Save will give you the exact same box as if you click File-Save As. • This was not the reason Lily couldn’t find her work. • Look carefully at the picture for clues, and then try again. Click here to go back and look for clues.

4. Oops! • Spaces ARE allowed when naming a file. • This was not the reason Lily couldn’t find her work. • Look carefully at the picture for clues, and then try again. Click here to go back and look for clues.

5. Correct! • Lily forgot to click in the “Save In” box to choose her H drive. • If a student forgets to save a picture in his or her H drive, and leaves it in the “My Pictures” folder like Lily did, the picture will be automatically deleted (erased) by the end of the day! Click here to go to the next question.

6. Jacob started typing a story about himself in DavkaWriter. When he went to exit, this is what he saw: The box asked, “Save changes to Untitled 1 before exiting?” Since this was the first time he saved, he clicked Yes. He put it in his H drive, named it “All About Me,” and clicked “Save.” Then another box popped up. It looked like the one on the right. It asked, “Save changes to Untitled 2 before exiting?” “Hmm, that’s strange,” Jacob thought. “I thought I already said Yes.” What should Jacob click? Look at the second picture for clues. Then click either Yes, No, or Cancel to test your answer: Yes No Cancel

7. Oops! • Look again at the second picture. Untitled 2 is a blank page. Does he really want to save a blank page? • Which of the remaining choices do you think is the best one? Click here to go back.

8. Correct! • Jacob should choose “No,” because “Untitled 2” is just a blank page. Jacob has no reason to save a blank page! • Untitled 1, Untitled 2….even Untitled 16, are just names given to documents until they are saved and given a name. (Get it? UN-titled…it doesn’t have a title!) • Different programs call untitled files by different names. For example, Microsoft Word calls them Document 1, 2, 3, and so on. PowerPoint calls them Presentation 1, 2, 3, and so on. Pixie, Paint, and DavkaWriter call them Untitled 1, 2, 3, and so on. Click here to go to the next question.

9. Oops! • Clicking “Cancel” will just make the dialogue box disappear for now. When Jacob tries to exit again, the same box will pop up, asking him if he wants to save changes to Untitled 2. • Look again at the second picture. Untitled 2 is a blank page. Which of the remaining choices do you think is the best one? Click here to go back.

10. Ms. Rothfeld tried to open up her Student Interview Example. When she went to her H drive and double clicked on the file, “Student Interview Example,” a dialogue box popped up. It said, “The file “Student Interview Example” already exists. Do you want to....” • There were 3 choices: Replace the existing file, Save changes with a different name, and Merge changes into existing file. There was also an OK button and a CANCEL button. • This story has 2 questions. • Question #1: Look at the picture. Why did Microsoft Word give Ms. Rothfeld this dialogue box, instead of opening up her Student Interview Example? (Read all of the choices before choosing the best answer.) Another student in class also named their interview “Student Interview Example.” She already had it open on another computer. She clicked File-Save, instead of File-Open.

11. Oops! • If Ms. Rothfeld already had her Student Interview Example open on another computer, she would have gotten a dialogue box with a different question. • Look again at the second picture. Hint: Look to the left of the Look In box, where it should say “Look In.” Click here to go back.

12. Correct! • In this situation, Ms. Rothfeld accidentally clicked File-Save instead of File-Open. Click here to go to the next question.

13. Oops! • If another student had saved his or her work with the same name, it wouldn’t matter, because their work and Ms. Rothfeld’s work are saved in different folders. • Look again at the second picture. Hint: Look to the left of the Look In box, where it should say “Look In.” Click here to go back.

14. Question #2: You already know that Ms. Rothfeld got the dialogue box pictured below because she accidentally clicked File-Save instead of File-Open.What should she do now? • The dialogue box says, “The file Student Interview Example already exists. Do you want to replace the existing file, save changes with a different name, or merge changes into existing file.” • (Read all of the choices before choosing the best advice for Ms. Rothfeld.) Click Cancel. Click the second choice, “Save changes with a different name,” and then click OK. Click OK.

15. Correct! • Clicking “Cancel” is the right thing to do. “Cancel” would let Ms. Rothfeld go back and try again. This time, she would be more careful, and go to “File-Open” instead of “File-Save.” • (Whew! Close Call!) • Ms. Rothfeld says: At least once a week, I see students click File-Save instead of File-Open. Or, they might mean to click the “opening folder” button (which means Open), but accidentally click the blue square “floppy disk” button (which means Save). It’s easy to do, because those two buttons are right next to each other! Sometimes, I don’t see it until it’s too late! Click here to go to the summary.

16. Oops! • Clicking “Save changes with a different name” won’t help Ms. Rothfeld to open her file. • Remember, Ms. Rothfeld wants to OPEN her Student Interview Example, not to SAVE it! Click here to go back.

17. Oops! • If Ms. Rothfeld clicks the “OK” button, she will erase her work! • The reason for this is that the first of the 3 choices is selected. It says, “Replace existing file.” • Clicking OK to this means that her Student Interview Example, which already exists, will be replaced by the blank page which is open right now. Click here to go back.

18. Summary • Today you practiced reading and thinking about dialogue boxes. All of the stories I used here are true stories, which happen often in the computer lab. (The student names I used were just for fun, though.) • Good news: A dialogue box lets you know that there’s something you need to do or pay attention to, before you make the wrong (or right) choice. It’s like the box is saying, “WARNING! Think before you click!” • When a dialogue box pops up on your computer, you must take the time to read it carefully. Think about what it’s asking you, before you click a button. Clicking the wrong button could cause you to lose your work! • If you read a dialogue box and still don’t know what to do, ask Ms. Rothfeld, instead of guessing. You don’t have to “ask 3 before me” with dialogue boxes. Here’s why: When you’re working on a project and you ask a student for help, if the student’s advice doesn’t work, you can always click “undo.” But if you choose the wrong answer to a dialogue box and erase your work, it can’t be undone. It’s better to play it safe! • If you have any questions about these practice stories, or about dialogue boxes, please ask Ms. Rothfeld. She’ll be happy to help! End

19. The End! Remember…think before you click!