Re: [Usability]Re: Toolbar editor

[mpeseng tin it]

>On Wed, 2003-03-26 at 13:38, mpeseng tin it wrote:
>
>> Toolbar items costumization is listed as a requirement in the Toolbars
>section
>> of the HIG and it's part of the toolbar GEP.
>
>Ah yes, I'd forgotten it was mentioned in the HIG :)  I haven't read the
>GEP for a long time though, I really should.
>
>> In a web browser I prefer to keep one toolbar with only a few items(Back,
>> Forward, Reload, Stop, Location), while other users prefer to have two
>toolbars
>> with more items like Bookmarks, History ...
>
>That's a good example, which raises an important point-- you say some
>users prefer to have two toolbars, while others prefer one.  But that
>doesn't involve "editing" any toolbars, nor should it... that's more a
>case of being able to turn different task-related toolbars on or off
>depending on what you're currently doing, which is quite a different
>thing IMHO.

I probably did not make myself clear.

Hopefully these shots will work better ;)
1 http://writetheweb.com/Members/edd/Articles/images/ephy-1.png
2 http://www.msu.edu/~bordoley/screenshot.png

I dont want to turn off the location toolbar in screenshot 2 but to have
it on the main toolbar (and to remove some items I dont use to leave space
for it).

>> In general I feel the ability to have only the more often used actions
>on
>> the toolbar (and I guess "more often used" depends on user preferences)
>> good for usability because you can find more easily the items you need.
>
>Yes it is, but the whole point of a toolbar is only to contain the "more
>often used actions".  Infrequently-used items have no business being on
>the toolbar to start with, the question really  is whether we should
>allow users to add them later if they want to :)

Another question is if it's possible (and in which applications) to make
a clear call between frequently/infrequently used items or if that is too
much dependent on user preferences.

Marco