Re: [Evolution-hackers] component information area.

[Not Zed <notzed ximian com>]

On Wed, 2004-04-07 at 14:35 -0400, Anna M Dirks wrote:
> > http://primates.ximian.com/~notzed/test/ui/
>
> Michael, this looks great! Thank you!
>
> > Took me a while to work out how to do a few things, hence all the tries.
> > I gave up on the multiple-alternate smaller-text idea for now.  The last
> > one (-5) is probably the closest to what we want (although some others
> > are exactly the same height as the search bar).
>
> I don't think that making this be the same size as the searchbar is much
> of a win -- I'd rather go for the slightly larger, more readable design.
>
> > Tweaks to layout (i.e. borders etc)?  Any hig insights on this?
>
> What is the border set to now? Can we see it with a border of 12 pixels?

Well the outer border (light grey) is 3 pix, then the inner border (dark grey) is 6 pix, with 6 pix between labels/icons.  With 12 pix between the labels it looks "bad".  With a border with "shadow in" it looks "really bad" (and it looks like it should be a button):

http://primates.ximian.com/~notzed/test/ui/component-info-6.png

With an outer border of 6 pix it sort of looks ok, with no shadow, but the space looks redundant (i.e. the total border is 12 pix):

http://primates.ximian.com/~notzed/test/ui/component-info-7.png

And finally with a 12 pix border, 6 between the icon, 12 between everything else (i think, actually making things layout like that is a total pita in the widgets, surprise).  Looks like an football field sized stone 'HELP' in the simpson desert - lots of wasted space:

http://primates.ximian.com/~notzed/test/ui/component-info-8.png


> The HIG is unfortunately free of much data about application window
> layout. In theory, the border of the vbox is supposed to be 12 pixels,
> and the spacing within it should be the same...except that the spacing
> between the icon and folder name should be 6. My two cents are these:
> the important thing that the CIA accomplishes is that it tells you the
> name of the folder you are accessing, and it tells you about the status
> of that folder. The more spacing and padding that are added to it, the
> less information it will be able to display in the same amount of space.
Yeah.  Toshok also suggested having a two-line approach.

Also note the info text is <size=smaller>, but thats easy to play with.

Michael Zucchi <notzed ximian com> Ximian Evolution Software Developer

Novell, Inc.