Re: System Settings Overview Design

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 7:25 PM, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt postinbox com> wrote:
> Allan Day wrote on 26/10/11 07:58:
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Allan Day <allanpday gmail com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 3:23 PM, Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net> wrote:
>>...
>>>> The plan would be to hide hardware based panels where the hardware
>>>> isn't readily available. For example, we would hide the Wacom panel
>>>> if no Wacom tablets were plugged in and none were configured via
>>>> Bluetooth.
>
> When a keyboard or mouse is not working, the reason might be that it has
> become unplugged. Or that it is a Bluetooth device that is not yet (or
> no longer) paired.
>
> These situations can be explained -- and in the Bluetooth case, fixed --
> in the relevant settings panel, if it is always present. They can't be
> if the panel is hidden because of the very problem you're trying to solve.

My understanding was that the panel would be permanently displayed
once that type of device had been detected.

>>...
>>
>> It's the dynamic content in combination with grouping that's the real
>> killer for the layout. I've been thinking about this, and I've started
>> to wonder whether the groups are really that helpful. I know I don't
>> find them very useful, and I'd be surprised if other people do. They
>> can also be misleading.
>
> As with books in a library, categorization of settings is both hard and
> necessary.
...

Why necessary? We're talking about less than 20 panels, each of which
should have a distinct name and icon.

> The original problem, of lack of vertical space, can be fixed by
> improving the spacing and the font size. The Windows and OS X
> equivalents both have much less space around items in the overview
> screen, and both use a smaller font for labelling individual panels than
> for labelling categories.
...

It wouldn't say that is the main or the only problem.

Allan
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