Re: [Usability]<What's this?> button

[axel c <axel banzais org>]

On Tue, 2002-11-19 at 10:58, Gediminas Paulauskas wrote:
> axel c wrote:
> > hi there,
> > 

> Instead of "What's this" popup menu, which you need to click to get a 
> tooltip displayed (total two clicks), simply display the tooltip for 
> entries which may need explanation (no clicks, only hover).
> 

well, i didnt explain myself too well. The hypothetical button im
speaking about would go a bit deeper in explanation than a tooltip. it
could give some general guidelines on concepts, etc, always as optional
information for the interested. i think this would be annoying in a
normal tooltip, which i think is for immediate help, not for background
information and etc. i was thinking of something like a 'parallel
information' system. A ToolTipi would be the *technical* way of
displaying the data, but the functionality would not be the same as that
of the current tooltips...


> In windows, just yesterday I looked at some configuration dialog and 
> tried pressing right mouse button on every control I didn't understand, 
> but only some of them had "What's this" help. I found such behavior very 
> annoying.
> 

Well, because windows sucks :) but if it was done consistently, it
would  be great... wouldn't it?

> A small (2-3 lines) description of what this dialog is could be added 
> with light bulb next to it, as in theme or background preference 
> dialogs, and a help button with extensive information.

That's my idea, more or less.

> 
> Of course, it should not be configurable.
> 
Dunno about that.


cheers,

axel