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Apply and Undo


rmm200

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Having been burned more than once by the meaning of Apply and Undo, I am here to ask for consideration of maybe more descriptive terms.

"Apply" and "Undo" have the virtue of being short, and about the same length. They say nothing about what the operation actually does.

 

I would really like to see our choices be more like "ReDeploy" and "Copy game directory changes back to mod".

That eliminates any confusion about what the result of the operation will be.

How do the rest of you folks feel about it? Never destroyed a mod by copying the wrong direction?

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Use case that got me thinking about this:

A mod author provided a loose pex file, to be dropped in the scripts directory.

I added it to my mod file and clicked Deploy to get Vortex to update the game directory.

Vortex correctly picked up that the file had changed, but I actually had to choose "Undo" to get my change applied.

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Given the context in which "Apply" and "Undo" occur, I personally have no difficulty understanding the terms. "Apply" means "save the changes made outside Vortex," and "Undo" means "delete the changes made outside Vortex."

 

However, if "Apply" and "Undo" are ambiguous to most people, then I would favor changing to @Grestorn's naming recommendations (especially "revert changes").

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I was confused at first, too, but I understood it quite quickly.

 

I would recomment "revert changes" and "save changes". With a tool tip that explain the functions.

 

But those are just synonyms for undo and apply!?

 

During the internal alpha test the dialog had more explicit descriptions and several users complained that they found that to be confusing and scary and they wanted it simplified. This is a case of "you can't please everyone".

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They are synonyms if you mean "Undo" and "Apply" in that context.

 

Especially "Apply" - especially when used as a single word - is usually used in dialogs (together with "Save" and "Cancel") and I think that what's confusing most people. Also, I think, "Revert" is clearer than "Undo", because "Undo" usually refers to something you're done within the tool itself - like in an editor. "Revert" is easier to understand.

 

If you ask the user something like this:

"Vortex has detected that mod files have been changed. What do you want to do with these changes?"

"Revert changes" - "Apply changes to mod"

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