More Effective Baloon Help/Tool Tips (was: vi bindings for text widgets)

[Pat Rogan <rogan lycos com>]

> 
>    As long as I can see the available functions, and the shortcuts 
> beside them, I can learn quickly.  And whether I'm a beginner or an 
> expert, there would always be a way for me to access the functions I 
> need.
> 

If anyone's looked at the Enlightenment window manager, it has an
EXCELLENT balloon help - like system that clearly displays every
mouse/key binding for every window border widget.  It's the key, for me,
that makes using the completely reconfigurable window manager possible
when using a new theme out of the box for the first time.  Since i can
SEE what the mouse binding are, i'm not forced to immediately change
them to my own standard bindings.

I can't find a picture of the balloon help for those of you who haven't
seen it :(

Microsoft has determined that "tooltips" should always be on by default,
and Apple has determined that this type of help should only be requested
by the user (by using the "Help" key or menu).

Gtk has a tooltip widget, right?  In what ways could this be used more
effectively and more automatically?  Consider a global ~/.gtkrc variable
that says "always show tooltips" or "never show tooltips".  Consider
every widget automatically displaying a usage tooltip in english based
on what's hooked into it.  How could this work with the least amount of
programmer effort?

~p@

-- 
Patrick Rogan
-----------------------------------
Systems Engineer

Lycos, Inc.
1 Oxford Centre
301 Grant Street, Suite 525
Pittsburgh, PA   15219-1408