>If you blindly follow MS way of defining apps, all data on a form is edit on demand...meaning that almost any field can be directly edited without having to click an "Edit" control. This has always disturbed me as I have specialized in financial systems where an "ooops" undetected and committed could cost millions.
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>In keeping with this thought process, I have always followed an "edit on request" interface where a good ol' edit button needs to be pressed before controls are enabled....but this has caused it's own share of mixed metaphors and inconsistancies in interfaces.
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>Any general thoughts on this????


I don't blindly follow Microsoft (how can you for database apps...most of what we need to do isn't in the standards), but my experience has been that users prefer the "always in edit mode". The user does need to click Save before anything is committed.