Re: Trying a new toolbar style

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Wed, 2009-07-29 at 14:38 +0100, Thomas Wood wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> We've had a discussion on gnomecc list about removing the "Interface"
> tab from the appearance capplet (see discussion¹ in the archive for
> reasoning).
> 
> However, before we do so, we would like to ensure the the defaults are
> correct. The main reason for the tab being there at all is because
> people felt the defaults are probably incorrect.
> 
> The main default we would like to change is the "toolbar style"
> settings. I have suggested¹ that there is broad support for the "text
> beside icons" style, however there have been concerns that not all
> applications implement it properly. It is important to note that in this
> mode, only the most important toolbar items get text labels.
> 
> PLEASE TRY THIS OPTION BEFORE YOU COMMENT - A LOT OF PEOPLE DO NOT
> REALISE THAT ONLY SOME TOOLBAR BUTTONS GET LABELS IN THIS MODE.
> 
> Therefore, I would like to propose a trial period with this setting set
> to the new value, to give a chance for maintainers to ensure their
> applications work correctly. I have (regrettably rather hastily) already
> made the change to libgnome and I have opened a bug 590143 to discuss
> any issues.

Do we have good concrete guidelines on when developers
should mark toolbar text as important?  Frequency of
use seems backwards to me, because the items you use
frequently will be the ones you least need test for
over time.

I don't want to bike shed this, but it always struck
me that one of the advantages of icons in menus is
that they can help you associate an icon with text,
thereby helping you learn the toolbar.  But this is
pure conjecture on my part.  I don't have any real
data to back that up.

Anyway, here's a rundown of the toolbar items that
have text for me on 2.24.  I'm including programs
that I have installed which aren't part of Gnome,
to give us an idea of the greater ecosystem.

Seahorse:
  Properties

Agave:
  Back, Random

F-Spot:
  Rotate left, Rotate right, Browse, Edit Image,
  Fullscreen, Slideshow (everything but Import)

gThumb:
  Folders, Catalogs, Fullscreen, Slide Show

Epiphany:
  Back

Evolution:
  New, Send/Receieve, Reply, Reply to All, Forward

Anjuta:
  Save, Undo

Glade:
  New, Open, Save, Options, Build (everything)

There's quite a bit of inconsistency for common toolbar
items: New, Open, Save, Back, etc.  Personally, the big
reason I don't use text beside icons is that the text
on the Back button in Epiphany annoys me.

--
Shaun