Re: First UI component needing replacement.

["Michael T. Babcock" <mbabcock fibrespeed net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris LeDantec" <Chris.LeDantec@netbeans.com>


> i suppose if i thought you'd answered them clearly i wouldn't have asked,
> now would i?

I'll propose you re-read my original message first (which you won't) and
answer each of your strange questions now.

> > problem with checkboxes is visual clutter in the dialog. there will
> already
> > be a variety of icons, buttons, and text shown to the user. adding
another
> > type of control makes things very cluttered.

How do we decide whether to use an OPEN button at all? Or a CANCEL?  Or
having the directory path shown?  Lots of things add clutter that add
functionality.  THere are trade-offs, and my message was about justifying
them in this case.  You're response is irrelevant because it doesn't deal
with the trade-offs.

> a checkbox is simply a way of
> > showing that multiple things can be 'turned on'.  if you add the
checkbox
> to
> > file selection all you are doing is repeating information that the
> highlight
> > on the file already communicates in a much more scannable way (if you
> remove
> > the highlight and go only with check boxes then you've make the
> scanability
> > of the over all selection harder to read. i.e., in the security settings
> for
> > ie a tree with radio and check boxes is used to display the information.
> it
> > is clear how to turn things on and off, but this isn't a easy list to
> glance
> > at and cull information from.)

You're making the assumption that everyone knows that a highlight is the
selection indicator.  You're also making the assumption that those people
like that.  I'm assuming that millions of people will use a computer this
year for the first time and they don't care what a highlight is until
they're told to care.  Lets work with new metaphors where they are more
useful.

Scanning for a checkbox is very simple, especially if done right.  The point
was more one of being able to select and unselect items easily, and no, I
will NEVER condone forcing people to use the keyboard and the mouse at the
same time to do an action; they should be able to choose.  Ctrl-Click,
therefore, is out the window in my opinion.  If there is no way for your
metaphor to be done mouse-only, then its broken.  (That's why the XMMS
behaviour has been cited).

> > does it mark the item with i highlight it, or do i have to explicitly
have
> > to check the box?

I said this -- select the file at all, and the box is selected or
unselected.

> > if not, then what you are really proposing is changing the
> > default behavior of a select action to be what is now ctrl+click.

No, I'm not.  Because in a single-file operating mode, a single click,
without CTRL, is all that is necessary to properly select a file for
opening.

> > can i shift+click over a range or do i have to click each box that i
want?

I didn't say you couldn't.  You could have asked for that as an extension to
my proposal.  In other words, its irrelevant to the use of checkboxes.

> > can i clear my selection with one click or do i have to unselect a la
> carte?

You can unselect as easily as you selected.  That was covered as well.

You made up a bunch of questions without c.f.'ing them against my proposal.