Re: background/font capplets

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Richard Hestilow">

> I'd actually argue that the use of toggle buttons in a context which,
> 99% of the time, would normally be implemented using radio buttons or an
> option menu counts as an inconsistent and potentially confusing UI.

On Mac OS X, it's a bunch of thumbnails to choose the image, and it has no
visible options for how the image is modified to fit the screen (which works
brilliantly, and would be even cooler for GNOME than Seth's UI).

On Windows, it's a drop-down list box, which means that you can't see all of
the available options and their effects ahead of time. I'm asking a friend
to check if Windows XP still uses this interface.

So yes, in this context - and *especially* with instant-apply - using toggle
buttons that indicate to the user what the background will look like
beforehand is wholly appropriate, and very straight-forward. Sure, it's
'domain specific', but it outweighs user familiarity with less informative
widgets significantly.

[ That said, I think we can do even better, but now is not the time. ]

- Jeff

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