[Xisiqomelir]

When you try to add/change an extension to the end of a filename, a dialog box pops up to warn you. I don't mind that, but I do mind that of the two buttons in the dialog box, the default is "don't change".

Is there any way to modify my system files to change the default to "change"?

[CharlesS]

I doubt it. Since that's an ordinary alert box, it's probably generated in code rather than having the complete alert in a .nib file.

[Millennium]

"Don't Change" is the default action, because (as the dialog box warns you) "Change" is potentially destructive. One of the most fundamental principles of the Mac UI guidelines is that potentially destructive or irreversible actions are never the default, so that it is harder for a user to cause them to happen accidentally.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Millennium:
"Don't Change" is the default action, because (as the dialog box warns you) "Change" is potentially destructive. One of the most fundamental principles of the Mac UI guidelines is that potentially destructive or irreversible actions are never the default, so that it is harder for a user to cause them to happen accidentally.

Really. Any potentially destructive or irreversible action.

When I save a document, that's an irreversible action (and possibly destructive if, prior to this, I had opened the file and deleted a bunch of stuff). So should the "Save changes?" dialog when I close an unsaved document have Cancel set as the default?

When, in the Finder, I go to empty the Trash, that's an irreversibly and certainly destructive action. Should Cancel be the default there, too?

There are only a tiny number of cases in the Mac OS X interface where the "Cancel" button is the default, and they're all annoying (except for the one when you reformat a hard drive - that is about the only one I'll agree with).