vSphere Design Standards

Dialog: Supports one or more tasks

A dialog can present options to complete a workflow, present data requested by the user, or communicate an error, warning, or other important message.

For a set of related workflows that users can complete in any order, you can use a multipage dialog.  This dialog has a table of contents and is ideal for editing an object with a large amount of related settings.

See Dialogs.

Wizard:  A multistep workflow that users complete in a predetermined sequence

Wizards are useful for complex workflows that are broken down into multiple steps. This makes such workflows more manageable. Wizards also enforce dependencies between steps. 

See Wizards.

Pop-up window:  Presents users with information related to an anchor point

This dialog is useful for providing information about a UI control, icon, or graphic.  Pop-up windows are also used in the Global Sidebar to show details about alarms and recent tasks and in the Navigator to display the most-recently viewed objects.

See Pop-up Windows.