Re: UI changes for control-center

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 01:35 -0400, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 6:07 PM, Shaun McCance<shaunm gnome org> wrote:
> 
> >
> >> I agree that these proprietary applications are going to have to
> >> change their docs.  And we will have to change some docs in GNOME too.
> >>  Which docs in particular do you think need to be changed?  If this is
> >> going to be a problem then I'll update the docs too.  Is that
> >> necessary?
> >
> > For starters, the relevant sections in the User Guide.
> > And then other material needs to be audited.  And we
> > have to analyze the user impact to see if we need to
> > add troubleshooting docs.
> >
> > I can't just tell you exactly what needs to be edited,
> > because that's the hard part.  Typing words is a pretty
> > small part of writing.  Deciding what needs to be written
> > is where the real work is.
> 
> 
> Looking over the user guide, there are sections
> 
> Configuring Your Desktop > Look and Feel > Appearance Preferences >
> Interface Preferences
> 
> and
> 
> Configuring Your Desktop > Look and Feel > Windows Preferences
> 
> which will have to be axed along with the UI they describe.

These are the obvious things, yes.

Changes in really core desktop stuff could affect
documentation just about anywhere, not just the
User Guide.  It might not, but the only way to
know is to sift through it all.

> And then there is this sentence:
> 
> You can also press-and-hold Alt and drag any part of the window.
> 
> in the section Desktop Overview > Windows > Manipulating Windows.
> Worth pointing out that it is already a half-truth, since the current
> UI makes the modifier configurable, which should be mentioned here.

Good catch.  That should be addressed regardless of
the outcome of this discussion.

> My suggestion for Alt-click is to turn it off by default, since it
> seems to cause problems for some apps, and the functionality is
> available via the window menu anyway.

Alt+drag is the last resort of people who have to deal
with big windows on small screens.  They'll have some
issues using the window menu:

1) The title bar might not be visible if they've moved
it off-screen.  I'm not sure how many people know you
can right click on the window border.  And, I suppose,
it's possible the window is so asstastic that you can't
even see any window border.

2) Metacity doesn't let you drag the title bar off-screen,
except when you're using alt+drag.  (Maybe it allows this
if the window is bigger than the screen.  If it's smart
enough for that, strike this point.)

I know, fix those apps, right?

(And, OK, I realize I'm coming off negative here, so I
want to clarify that I'm not trying to block everything.
I just think it's worth pointing out potential problems
so that we know what we're doing.)

--
Shaun