Re: [Usability]Controls, widgets, and UI learning.

[James Ramsey <jjramsey_6x9eq42 yahoo com>]

--- Daniel F Moisset <dmoisset arnet com ar> wrote:
> 
> An appearence dialog should let the user control the
> appearence in terms
> a user thinks about the UI. The user (usually)
> doesn't know that the
> window frame and the widgets are drawn by completely
> separate software
> components (the wm and the toolkit). You're trying
> to get him to view
> that, 

We're not going quite that far. Rather, what we're
trying to convey to the user that window frame and
widget appearances are separately configurable. While
the background reason for this is that the window
frames and widgets are provided by separate pieces of
software, the user need not know that.

> 
> I think a possible solution (but I hope someone
> comes up with something
> better, it doesn't convinces myself too much) is an
> apparence dialog
> with the drawing of a window, some widgets inside,
> some way of
> highlighting parts of the drawing (clicking on it,
> and/or an option menu
> with options "window frame", "{widgets|controls}",
> "fonts"). 
[snip]
> Obvioulsy the image could be a preview
> to be more
> effective.

I think I can one-up you. Say I have a tabbed
Appearance dialog, with one of the tabs labeled
"Window Borders" and the other "Widgets." Within the
"Window Borders" tab is a preview of the window
borders, and within the "Widgets" tab is a preview of
the GTK+ widgets. Now there is a clear cue from the
GUI itself of what the term "widget" actually means.

Of course, with the widget preview as context, we
could get away with using the term "controls" in place
of "widgets." However, at least in the context of
theming, we may want to retain the jargon "widget." It
is a more precise term than "controls," and
theming-related web sites, forums, etc., will probably
find the term useful. A web menu or hyperlink might
not have the benefit of context that the term
"controls" would still require.

I'd suggest using "widget" in the context of theming,
while using "controls" in GUI documentation and in
some business contexts where a coined term like
"widget" would be considered too informal.


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
http://health.yahoo.com