Re: combo rant

[Paul Pogonyshev <pogonyshev gmx net>]

control H wrote:
> > I'm not saying GTK+'s combo is perfect, but I think it is generally better
> > than anything else I've seen.  At least it always uses all the screen space
> > it has.
>
> But this is one of my other objections: it merely _tries_ to use all the screen
> space available. It draws the menu layout, but without all items: you have
> to scroll them in if current selection item is near the beginning, using those
> "scroll arrows". It's not the most economic handling of a selection. After all,
> if you have no more items than would fit on the screen, it could have shown
> the menu compleet, ie, showing all items at once (but would of course
> require that the current selected item may be located at a different height than
> the combo widget itself, but tha'ts no problem to me. I even think that should
> be configurable).

It is the trade-off of the policy that "the selected item is under the pointer in
the just shown popup, period."  I think it is generally good, but this is an example
of where it shows its drawbacks.  However, for the sake of UI consistency, I believe
it should _not_ be changed.  I.e. it be "under the pointer, period", not "under the
pointer, but only if..."

Yes I wish, it was somehow alleviated.  A scroll bar would help.  Maybe a keyboard
shortcut for the popup that causes it to instantly be filled with items (i.e.
scroll in the right direction until the first item is at the very top or the last
item is at the very bottom.)  But generally, I consider this an inevitable trade
off.

Paul