Re: Edges of the screen (Panel suggestion)

[Michael Rogers <m rogers cs ucl ac uk>]

Matthias Warkus wrote:
> 
> In the talkback to my editorial on LinuxToday, someone told me of
> www.asktog.com, a site about user interface design. There, I found
> this:
> 
> ] Fitts's Law
> ]
> ] The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size
> ] of the target.
> ]
> ] While at first glance, this law might seem patently obvious, it is one
> ] of the most ignored principles in design. Fitts's law dictates the
> ] Macintosh pull-down menu acquisition should be approximately five
> ] times faster than Windows menu acquistion, and this is proven out.
> ] Fitt's law dictates that the windows task bar will constantly and
> ] unnecessarily get in people's way, and this is proven out. Fitt's law
> ] indicates that the most quickly accessed targets on any computer
> ] display are the four corners of the screen, because of their pinning
> ] action, and yet they seem to be avoided at all costs by designers.
> ]
> ] Use large objects for important functions (Big buttons are faster).
> ]
> ] Use the pinning actions of the sides, bottom, top, and corners of your
> ] display: A single-row toolbar with tool icons that "bleed" into the
> ] edges of the display will be many times faster than a double row of
> ] icons with a carefully-applied one-pixel non-clickable edge along the
> ] side of the display.
> 
> I read this and then I tried how Gnome handles this. Surprisingly,
> this is an exact description of the Gnome panel. The launchers are not
> flush with the edge of the panel, so you can't click a launcher by
> simply shoving your mouse pointer against the edge of your screen.

Yes I can.  ;)  The weird thing is, I remember trying this when Mac menus
were mentioned a few weeks ago, and it didn't work then. Which version of
gnome-core are you using?


Michael Rogers