Re: [Usability]Epiphany default toolbar layout

[Dave Bordoley <bordoley msu edu>]

On Sat, 2003-04-19 at 05:17, Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="Marco Pesenti Gritti">
> 
> > >From my very limited experience (I'm sure someone on the usability list
> > could be a lot more helpful on this) commonly used toolbar items are:
> > 
> > - Back, Forward, Reload, Location (grouped with the Go button).
> 
> I was somewhat surprised that Epiphany didn't have the bookmark toolbar
> turned on by default (with useful links in it). For some time, I actually
> didn't think it had one, because I could not see a way to turn it on (it
> ends up being just another toolbar you can add with the 'toolbar editor').
> 
> Even after I turned it on, I couldn't work out how to add dropdown bookmark
> folders to the bar. I use those very regularly in Galeon.

I have a proposal for this that i need to write down. Currently the only
way to add items to the toolbar is through DND. This has some usability
problems beyond just a11y. My current idea is to include a checkbox in
the context menu of topics in the bme, that when enabled adds the topic
to the bm toolbar.

> 
> > I'll add two open questions:
> > 
> > - Is the Home button used/useful ? I have not seen many person to use
> > it.
> 
> Definitely. I find that my non-technical friends and family use it as a kind
> of panic button. When they're lost or restarting their thought processes
> (sitting down to browse), they hit the home button to 'start afresh'. Often
> they have it set to a major news site, portal, or Google.
> 
> Personally, I have my own portal thingy on my webserver that I use as a
> leaping off point. It's my home page, and I go to it *all* the time. If I
> didn't have a home button, I'd put it on a bookmarks toolbar.

Yeah I agree we should keep home it can be useful for providing a
failsafe start point.

> 
> > - Is the Spinner necessary ? I tried to browse without it for some weeks
> > now, the page loading feedback in the statusbar would appear to be
> > enough.
> 
> I think that removing the spinner would be okay for advanced users who are
> more adept at understanding what their browser is doing, and people who use
> fast connections because they generally don't have to care what their
> browser is doing. ;-) Anyone on dialup would find the "yes, your browser is
> actually doing something now" notification helpful (if they can trust the
> notification, that is...)

I agree here too, I tried using ephy without the spinner and the lack of
visual feedback really can be frustrating.

> 
> One opportunity for removing stuff from the toolbars is the stop button.
> Safari has combined the Stop and Refresh buttons very nicely -> when would
> you want to refresh a page whilst downloading it? Approximately never. :-) I
> think this would be a good suggestion for our browsers, Nautilus and then
> the toolbar section of the HIG for future reference.
> 

This is completely wrong for several reasons and I feel like i've
mentioned this about a thousand times before.

1. Reload and stop are not mutually exclusive. A user could want to
reload a loading page. By forcing them to stop than reload you
effectively are moding them in.

2. What happens if a user accidentally reloads a page that they are
trying to stop by clicking the stop button, but the button changes to
reload since the page just finished loading. oops.

3. In general having individual controls for each action is easier to
learn and use, leading to quicker muscle memory.

4. MPT said so :)

dave