Re: GnomePropertyBox

[Dietmar Maurer <dietmar ximian com>]

Maciej Stachowiak wrote:

> On 29Jun2001 01:25PM (+0200), Dietmar Maurer wrote:
> > Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I think a nice way to do things is to apply changes instantly as you
> > > manipulate the controls, and provide a way to undo changes (either
> > > undo one at a time, or revert them all). So the two buttons I'd
> > > suggets are "Revert" or "Undo" and "OK" or "Close".
> > >
> > > Changes that apply instantly are definitely the best for tweaking
> > > things and trying out different preferences.
> >
> > I think it is not always good to apply changes immediately.
>
> I think the case where it's not good to do so is very rare, if it
> exists at all. Nautilus applies all settings live as you change the
> controls. Mac OS X does it for all System Preferences (their new name
> for control panels) and for the preference dialogs of all the core
> desktop apps. In both cases it works really well and is much nicer
> than our five button control center.
>
> I would have thought it was crazy before I tried it, but once you use
> it enough, it's clear it's better.
>
> > I would prefer an configurable approach, where we show OK/Cancel for
> > normal users, and some additional buttons for advanced users
> > (OK/Apply/Revert/Close or something like that).
>
> Even if there might be a very few settings that you don't want to
> apply instantly, shouldn't we design something for the 99% case rather
> than the 1% case?

IMO a dialog with OK/Cancel is very easy, so I cant see the big advantage
of the "auto apply" feature. It only has the disadvantage that it doesn't
work for all cases.

- Dietmar