Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Development:
Progress Dynamics Web Development Guide

General considerations for Web look and feel

This section discusses certain guidelines for designing applications in a manner consistent with prevailing Web standards.

Dialog boxes

The following three types of dialog boxes can be replicated in a Web browser:

A modal dialog box is a separate browser window instance that pops up over the main base window and receives focus. You cannot access the base window until the modal dialog box has been closed.
A nonmodal dialog box is actually a separate browser window instance that pops up over the main base window and receives focus. You can access the base window without closing the nonmodal dialog box.
An overlay dialog box replaces the contents of the main browser window frame, so no additional Web browser window instance is created. There is some object (a button or a link, for example) that lets the user return to the main window frame. (The Progress Dynamics framework supports overlay dialog boxes for Find/Filter and field lookups.)

Modal dialog boxes are not very common in a Web browser GUI environment. You are more likely to see overlay dialog boxes. Although nonmodal dialog boxes are frequently implemented as pop-up advertisements in Web sites, they are less common in Web applications. Overlay dialog boxes are usually preferable.

Alternative object visualizations

The following objects have alternative visualizations that change the look and feel of an application to make it more “Web-like” without changing the underlying functionality:

Tab folders can appear as multi-page wizards with navigation buttons.
Menu bars can appear as tree views with a hierarchy of collapsible and expandable nodes.