RE: First UI component needing replacement.

[Chris LeDantec <Chris LeDantec netbeans com>]

>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.

the point is, the checkbox and the selection highlight is redundant. good ui
design does everything to eliminate redundancy when it is un-needed.

why is it that you've got such a distaste for combining keyboard and mouse?
there is a lot of complex behavior that cannot be combined with only two
(three) buttons. this gets into what my other message addressed: designing
around the more complex case ends up seriously crippling the simple case.
fabrice said it right, the simple actions should be completed with single
clicks, but designing more complex behavior with a modifier is not
unacceptable, it is a powerful way to stack capabilities on the very simple
mouse interface.

there is also the issue of meeting users expectations. i agree that there is
no need to propagate bad design, but design decisions made out of spite (of
windows most generally) are equally ill-grounded. there are a slew of users:
home, corporate, university, first timers, what-have-you, who will come in
contact with other ways of doing things. unless there is something that
really substantiates the benefit of a design change, all you end up doing is
creating quirks that are fun for branding but hard on the user. users moving
to linux/gnome are going to have an easier time of it if there is
consistency in the fundamental tasks. likewise, a user brought up on
linux/gnome will not be so severed from the rest of the world if the core
behaviors are similar. 

cL