Re: [gtk-list] Re: [patch] a nicer tearoffmenuitem

[Kenneth Albanowski <kjahds kjahds com>]

On 21 Dec 1998, Owen Taylor wrote:

> 
> Sven Neumann <neumanns@uni-duesseldorf.de> writes:
> 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Attached is a short patch that replaces the (in my eyes) ugly horizontal line
> > used for tearoff menus with something that resembles more to a handle (it fact
> > it is one). I haven't committed it instantly since some people might not like 
> > that it uses a little more space. Please commit it if you like it...
> 
> This has been suggested before. One hesitation I have about using a
> "handle" there is that that implies a response to button motion that
> is not implemented. It always annoys the heck out of me that the
> little toolbar with the handle in the lower right of Netscape (I'm not
> sure what versions this comment applies to) looks like it should be
> tearoff, but actually is a button you press to get the toolbar to pop
> into a new window.

This is a basic usability issue, which I've seen called "affordabilities". 
In this context, it means that something should do what it looks like it
can do: a knurled or roughened surface, indicated by 3D stippling or lines
(as in the "handles" used by various things nowadays) indicates a contact
surface with friction, meaning that it can be slid around the screen. A
button, indicated by a 3D rectangle surrounding a label or indicator,
indicates that a pressing is useful, not sliding. 

(Of course, this is all rather sloppy when talking about 2D computer
displays: most of the afforabilities we perceive are simply learned. Most
buttons don't really look like a control that could actually be pressed in
to the screen, and there is no real-world equivalent for the release of a
button to be the triggering equivalent instead of the push. In contrast,
the knurled "handle" seems closer to real-world experience.) 

>                  Owen
>                  (Who actually sort of likes his dotted line ;-)

I'm somewhat for a push-pin, though they've been overused recently. 

-- 
Kenneth Albanowski (kjahds@kjahds.com, CIS: 70705,126)