Re: User interface suggestions

["Blad, John Erling" <john erling blad aftenposten no>]

The main problem with this approach are that boldface not only
signals "this is important" but also "this is a header". The last
one could trigger a lot of havoc if it is interpreted as an entry
into something else.

It also don't solve the real problem because you *know* where the
item is when you use it often. If you could generate a hint where
a seldom used feature is located ..

As a "speed feature" I would suggest moving items from submenus
up to the root drop-down menu and put them in as the last itemns
in the menus. That don't disturbs the established menu order.

If the user needs greater speed than this he should move the items
into a toolbar. What if he was able to drag the menu items stright
into the toolbar?

John

-----Opprinnelig melding-----
Fra: schachte cs mu oz au [mailto:schachte cs mu oz au]
Sendt: 13. november 2000 13:48
Til: Adrian
Kopi: Ben FrantzDale; Gguilist
Emne: Re: User interface suggestions


On 13 Nov, Adrian wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Nov 2000, Ben FrantzDale wrote:
>> I really like the bold on the menu items. It seems like a great way to
speed
>> up access to frequently used things but still avoids the MS problem of
>> hiding things from the user. Great!
> 
> Yes, that was the idea... tnx!

I agree the boldface is good.  You could control what's bold by setting
a threshold frequency (boldface any items selected on average more than
1 time in every n times any item from the menu is selected), or by
setting a number of items (the n most frequently selected items are
boldfaced), or by recentness (the n most recently selected items are
boldfaced).  I'm not sure which I like best.  The first is complex, but
allows more items to be boldfaced if lots of items are often selected
and fewer if only few items are used.

Here's another idea:  rather than making this a feature of the panel
menus, build it into the gtk menu widget as a switchable option, so
other programs with big menus could benefit from it, too.  It would
also be even more useful in selectable list widgets, where there may be
dozens or hundreds of items.  The only trouble with this idea is that t
he history of what items have been selected really should be saved
between runs of the program.  I don't know whether gtk has the ability
to save that kind of information between runs.

-- 
Peter Schachte                     The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its
mailto:schachte cs mu OZ AU        teaching should, therefore, be regarded
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~schachte/  as a criminal offense.
PGP: finger schachte 128 250 37 3      -- E. W. Dijkstra 


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