Toast Notification or Dialog Box?
Two types of notifications in Android
Everyone knows what popup notifications are, then what does “Toast Notification” mean? What does “Dialog Box” means? Well, here i’ll explain what it actually means and what is the main difference between them.
Toast Notification
It is a small message that shows up in a box at the bottom of the screen and disappears on its own after few seconds. It is a simple feedback about an operation in which current activity remains visible and interactive. It basically is to inform the user of something that is not critical and that does not require specific attention and does not prevent the user from using the app device.
For example; on gmail when a mail is send you receive a feedback of “Sending message…” written in the form of toast message.
When it can be used?
In the case where we just want to notify the users that the action they performed has been successfully taken place or taking place. For example:
- When you send a message you get a toast notification feedback “Message sent” written on it.
- When you delete some mails; you are notified with “Your mails has been deleted” written on it.
- You are even notified with ongoing action like “Sending Message…” written on it.
How it can be used?
Toast Notifications should stay on the screen for 5–6 seconds, so that they do not block the information behind them for too long, but allows the user to read the message. They should not be interactive, you don’t have to think on it or type on it and should be shown just to inform you with text/icons or both.
Dialog Box
A dialog box appears with window with button you can click or a just list of options to choose from. Whereas, the user is required to make a choice and whenever an explicit response is needed the user will be kept from doing something else which can be important. You can use it to ask the user to confirm irreversible, destructive and expensive actions which is normally presented in a question form.
Here are examples of two different type of dialog box where you have to respond to an action.
When it can be used?
- Dialog box make sense when they help you keeping the flow where you make user to do a particular action without leaving the current page.
- Can be used to capture the focus of the user which allows you to remove secondary distractions.
- They should be used when the user is required to make a choice or needs to know something specific before continuing.
How it can be used?
Dialog box does not fill up the whole screen and goes away when user performs an action for that. These notification are interactive to inform users before performing important action.
Conclusion
Toast notification and Dialog box are two very different types used for different purposes. It depends on the content that what should be used where.
Thank you :)
