RE: New GNOME UI Proposal

[Jörg Rathlev <joerg jrsoftware de>]

> However, I have to admit MS actually defaults to using the standard
> double click method for Explorer, which gives me an idea.  The
> Applications Panel could default to a "click to select, double-click
> to launch" usage and more advanced users could switch to the other
> usage if they wanted to. What do you think of that?

Well, MS certainly had a reason (though I don't know which one) to
have single click the default. Actually I remember single click being
the default in Windows 98, which is on my laptop, but that might also
be a vendor setting.

I have suggested on this list some time ago to make menus editable by
including an "edit this menu" item, which would make the menu stick
and let you drag things around etc. (Basically, this is an in-place
menu editor.) The point is that this combines the advantages of single
click with those of double click. Most time you *don't* want to edit
your menu, but when you do, single click can be very annoying.

In your panel, I'd suggest making the two buttons one button, labeled
"Edit Menu" or something, that would turn the panel into edit mode,
using click to select mode and allowing to drag items and such things.


> > What's wrong about making the Application Launcher a menu?
> 
> With categories and application lists part of the same widget? 
> How could you
> make that into menu?

By using submenus, obviously :)

Yes, that would make it a normal menu, not a panel.


> The point of the Applications Panel is to make it easy to launch
> applications. Click on a category, click (or double-click) on an app, and
> bam! It's launched.

See my above editing mode proposal. Maybe this could combine the advantages.


> > You need some labels on those buttons, I think. Their meaning isn't
> > really clear by looking at the icons, and even with other icons, the
> > buttons are so important that you'd want some extra information (by
> > default, at least).
> 
> Good idea. My only concern is how to label those icons without making the
> buttons really large. Any ideas?

Yes, *make* them large. They're important, after all :)


Jörg