Re: User interface suggestions

[Adrian <aferrer dit upm es>]

On Mon, 13 Nov 2000, Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero wrote:

> aferrer dit upm es (2000-11-12 at 1946.13 +0100):
> > * New look in the menus. Looking for a more clear interface, I've added
> > icons in the top menu, and titles & a bit of innovation in the lists of
> > items. Items in bold will be the most used ones.
> 
> You killed the dettach widget, and some people use it cos they found
> it, not cos was hidden or removed. I suppose your solution would be
> that title will be become the dettach controler, 

How did you now? :)

> and that dettached
> menus will not have window manager decors, thus being unable to do
> some window ops with them (minimize or keyboard focus, for example),
> and only being able to close them with the added arrow they have in
> current implementation, or maybe a new close button in title. Dunno it
> that is nice, I like currently dettachable system.
> 

No, I think that clicking the new dettach & tittle widget coult open the
same window it opens now... But if you prefer new possibilities, it
could be configurable in the control center for example :).

> Some other things, like colors, lines or effects are theme based, and
> you will not be able to control them. What about if the theme font is
> bold already? What font is used for the headers, knowing that user
> chose one base font, not multiple?
> 

Humm... I think we are talking about future, not present... If we decide
to make changes in the user interface to improve it, the rest of the
system will have to adapt (this includes themes, user font selecttions, or
any other issue...). Of course, it's more logical to choose easy ways, as
compatible as possible with the present state, but it's not always
possible if we want to improve...

> > * Items in the desktop. Most used ones (CD-ROM, XMMS, Mozilla) are in
> > bold, other un normal font.
> 
> Do they change as they are used? 

Yes, the same as the bold in the item lists of the menus, they mean the
most used ones...

> What will you tell a user when he
> asks why an icon changed its font "magically"? 

I will tell him/her: "that item is very used by you, so it's now in bold
face to find it more quick with your eyes" :).

> Surprise. We have
> people that find icon changes weird, imagine then: "My CDROM icon has
> changed name again, and now is bold font too". Does the change worth
> the surprise?
> 

I think that having a way to highlight the most used items in the screen
is a good interface improvement for the all users in general... but if
someone doesn't like it, it's always possible to go to the control center
and disable it...

> > * Taskbar. Iconified tasks are more lighted (like theirs icons), "[]"
> > deleted.
> 
> That look like disabled buttons, not iconified windows, and you should
> keep consistency with the rest of GUI (disabled buttons do nothing if
> you click them). The "[]" are fine, IMO. 

Perhaps, but... in same way, when you iconify a task, you are "disabling"
it (if you allow me the metaphor), for this reason the icons are
"disabled", and the suggestion proposes "disabled" text too to maintain
consistence...

> What is more, I would like
> that windows in other desktops appeared as "()", like in Sawfish menu,
> which is more informative ("ooh, no, we use text to give info, bad
> GSR, this is GUI, only color and icons are valid" :P ). The same rule
> could be applied to the Sawfish task like when cycling, btw (Sawfish
> with Ugliness module, I mean).
> 

:). Yes, I prefer other graphical ways to indicate properties than text,
text is awful GSR! ;)

> > Oh yes, and the apple in the center of the topbar launches the
> > "gnome-about" program :).
> 
> You should use another thing, I remember Apple got pissed about the
> apple in some themes. I know, this apple is not Apple's, but better be
> safe. A mushroom maybe? GNOMEs, forest, trees... mushrooms. 

Humm... yes, it's easy to change... I don't know exactly why, but I prefer
the apple for default :).

> But, in
> the functionality area, why gnome-about? Do people check it daily?
> Will it become the small helper system proposed weeks ago vs the
> current limited three buttons and scrool area?
> 

Maybe... I was looking for a creative program to launch with the apple...
and found the gnome-about :).

> GSR
>  

Cheers


								Adrián