This is inspired by the question OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK?.
I remember reading somewhere about the concept of switching OK-Cancel/Cancel-OK in certain situations to prevent the user from clicking through information popups or dialog boxes without reading their content. As far as I remember, this also included moving the location of the OK button (horizontally, left to right) to prevent the user from just remembering where to click.
Does this really make sense? Is this a good way to force the user to ‘think/read first, then click’? Are there any other concepts applicable to this kind of situation?
I am particularly thinking of a safety-related application, where thoughtlessly pressing OK out of habit can result in a potentially dangerous situation whereas Cancel would lead to a safe state.
Please don’t do this unless you are really, really, really sure it’s absolutely required. This is a case of trying to fix carelessness and stupidity by technological means, and that sort of thing almost never works.
What you could do is use verbs or nouns instead of the typical Windows OK / Cancel button captions. That will give you an instant attention benefit without sacrificing predictability.