Re: [Usability] Button Layout in Dialogs, vertical button bar on the right?

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Tue, 10 May 2005, Rodney Dawes wrote:

> Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 13:07:29 -0400
> From: Rodney Dawes <dobey novell com>
> To: Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>
> Cc: usability gnome org
> Subject: Re: [Usability] Button Layout in Dialogs,
>      vertical button bar on the right?
>

responding to this comment first:

> Moving the OK/Cancel/etc... buttons to the right hand side, would only
> make things even more terribly confusing for our users, I think.

I am not looking to change any of the Gnome defaults, merely considering
that just as some users prefer the button order OK/Cancel, similarly
some users might prefer to move the buttons from the bottom of a dialog
to the right hand side to match what they are already familiar with.

> In those dialogs, the buttons you are talking about, are usually
> add/remove or similar buttons, relating to the widget directly to
> the left of the column of buttons in question. In the theme capplet,
> these buttons generally directly reflect the view in the list, directly
> next to the buttons. This is the same for the Search/Folder/Filter
> editor dialogs in Evolution. In some places, it doesn't necessarily
> make much sense. The "details" dialog in the theme capplet for example.
> The "Go to Theme Folder" button has no real relation at all to the list.
> The closest possible argument, is that the items inside of the folder,
> may or may not affect individiual "details" theme lists. I think it's
> safe to say that the button doesn't belong on the upper right in the
> notebook tabs in the "Theme Details" dialog.

Thanks for making it clearer, when you point out the scope of the
buttons it makes more sense.

> > P.S.  Anyone know of an easy to use key logger or click counter, something
> > like to gather data on my own usage patterns?  If there was something I
> > could compile into my applications to gather usage data I might be
> > interested to give that a try but in the short term I'm just looking for
> > something simple, a step up from the odometer panel applet.
>
> The "timeline" module in CVS might be of help. It lets you visualize the
> applications you spend your time in, in a neat little timeline. :)

Thanks again, that sounds like a good thing for me to start with.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan
http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/