Re: combo rant

[Paul Pogonyshev <pogonyshev gmx net>]

David Necas (Yeti) wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 25, 2005 at 11:26:58PM +0200, Paul Pogonyshev wrote:
> > 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..."
>
> It's funny you say that in a thread where intents to
> make an alternative implementation were mentioned just a few
> mails ago.  If a policy leads to consequences disliked so
> much that people start implementing their own widgets,
> you failed twice: first, you these new widgets will be far
> more inconsistent, not speaking about follow the policy;
> and second, you wasted these people time.

Yeah, so I should shut up and hold my opinion, because this thread is
dedicated to bashing GTK+ combo, or what?  If `these people' (assuming
you speak for them) don't want their time wasted by dissenting opinions,
they should not post to this list.  After all, many/most developers of
GTK+ itself will disagree, since they developed this combo widget.

> Second, policy `the items always appear in the same
> positions (relative to the combo)' would be at least as much
> consistent.  If the position was for exmple below combo, one
> would be in trouble only if the combo was near bottom screen
> edge, not any horizontal edge like now.

Yes, ``the popup starts with the first item'' policy is no less
consistent than GTK+'s.  I was trying to say that ``the popup sometimes
starts with the selected item under the pointer, sometimes not'' policy
would not be consistent.

> How many problems must a policy cause to make people realize
> it's wrong?

Just recently I had usability problems with Java Swing combo, because
I wanted to switch from an item to a different, close one.  With GTK+
it would have been close to the pointer in the popup, obviously.  With
Java, I still had to scroll a lot.

So, while GTK+ policy is obviously not flawless, saying that it is
outright wrong is ridiculous.

> How long is it since you've last seen a combo box with only
> two or three choices that could be replaced with
> radiobuttons (or even a yes/no checkbox!) immediately getting:
> - visibility of all the choices
> - posibility to assign mnemonics to individual choices
> - constant positions of the choices
> - fix of sceeen edge interaction problems
> - fix of obscuring of other widgets
> - ease of use (less clicks)
> - improved accessibility
> Hardly more than a few minutes ago...

So I have a preferences page in my program with 8 radios in three
groups instead of three combos.  Believe me or not.  Anyway, this is
not relevant to GTK+ combo discussion, only with regard to GNOME HIG.

Paul