A typical modal warning message.
The fundamental characteristic of warnings is that they involve the risk of losing one or more of the following:
• A valuable asset, such as important financial or other data.
• System access or integrity.
• Privacy or control over confidential information.
• User's time (a significant amount, such as 30 seconds or more).
By contrast, a confirmation is a modal dialog box that asks if the user wants to proceed with an action. Some types of warnings are presented as confirmations, and if so, the confirmation guidelines also apply.