Re: [Nautilus-list] Nautilus user testing at MIT

[Nicolas Mailhot <Nicolas Mailhot email enst fr>]

Le jeu, 04 jan 2001 23:43:57, Miles Lane a écrit :

> Anyhow, yes, I agree that the UI should remain fully
> usable
> while the cursor displays the hourglass.

Wich isn't the case ; an hourglass is a difficult pointer.

> Again, the reason I like the hourglass is just that it is
> a *known* mechanism for informing the huge base of Windoze
> users that the OS is launching your application.  Why have
> we got to reinvent the wheel? 

Because the window wheel is square, that's why.

Using cursor forms to inform a user of its applications
state don't work, because there is *one* mouse pointer and
*lots* of app windows. Web browser designers recognized this
and created throbbers for this very reason.

Now if you want to add more application state feedback in a
generic way in a *real* multitasking environment, where apps
can be constrained by different ressources :

1. define standard states

2. create a throbber form for all of them

3. embed your throbber in a generic place (title bar, task
list, dock, splash screen, start monitor-applet, whatever)

Et voilà, you've got a generic app-state feedback mechanism
using a known solution wich does not suffer from
mouse-pointer-hourglass limits.

-- 
Nicolas