Bad UI: Window XP Low battery warning

Nov-9-05, 1:24 pm by Hanford
File under: Bad User Interface

On the two last laptops I've owned (both Toshiba) I've gotten low battery warnings via the little text-bubble-popup at the bottom-right of the screen. It's a cool feature that I believe is part of Windows XP, and much less distracting than a modal dialog. However, the wording has always bothered me. It reads something like this:

Low Battery You should change batteries or plug into an outlet to avoid losing your work

The dialog implies that I can pop a battery out and replace it with a new one and not lose my work. I know that there are some scenerios that allow for this, although I can never remember which one it is (Hibernate? Sleep? Suspend?), but the message really does need to be clearer.

Oh well

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