One important aspect of effective design, I believe, is giving users a clear choice. On my Mac, when I install software updates, the above demonstrates the choices given to me. What if I am in the middle of something? I am provided with only two options, both of which amount to the same result–I have to stop what I am doing to accommodate the software updates. Whenever a user is given choices, the choices should result in different outcomes (to avoid redundancy) and should take into account assumptions a user will make. In this case, a logical assumption is that if I don’t want to restart, my other option would be to wait until later to restart. By providing that option, the designer can minimize potential user error.

If you are wondering, no I have not ever pressed either button and accidentally restarted or shut down. But every time I have encountered this message, I have wondered how it passed usability testing.

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