[slightly off-topic] Re: [Usability] HIG: Close button

["David Adam Bordoley" <bordoley msu edu>]

"Andrew W. Nosenko" wrote:
> [Disclaimer: this not about HIG, but about my personal preferences.] 
>
> IMO, any windows (including dialog windows) should have way to close its
> without "close window" icon from WM decoration. 
>
> Rationale: 
>
> 1. Under X11 you can start application but don't start window manager at
>    all.  (And I use this way from time to time).  Therefore, you will
>    don't have "close" icon from WM.

I think it is pretty damn near impossible to expect gnome and its HIG to 
work with any window manager that is broken. That is just not going to 
happen and shouldn't. [1] Hence if an app sends wm-hints that a window 
should have close buttons, minimize buttons etc. and the wm ignore those 
hints the wm is broken and needs to be fixed.[2] 

> 2. WM's "close" icon at decoration is smaller than "regular GTK+
>    button" (and it is normal).  Therefore, WM's icon is harder to plump
>    by mouse and requires more time (~ 5 sec. vs. 0.5 sec. in my case). 

This is a legitimate issue. One way to increase speed here is to limit the 
amount of accidental clicking of other window buttons by seperating close 
from minimize and maximize. Also while i do suspect that the wm button might 
be slightly slower than a large close button, I'm pretty sure for most users 
the difference won't be so dramatic when timing with the stop watch. [3] 

dave "still not trying to start a flame war about close buttons in dialogs" 


[1] Its worth mentioning that even Metacity is a little broken as alert 
style dialogs should not have window buttons or visible window titles, but 
that will get fixed once there is a standard hint. 

[2] There is also a HIG bug regarding what are the window manager 
expectations of gnome apps. 

[3] Exception to this of course are users who have disabilities, but for 
these users we also provide keyboard shortcuts and other accessible ways of 
accessing window actions.