Re: [Usability] Themus usability

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On 21 Jul 2003, Andrew Sobala wrote:

> Date: 21 Jul 2003 15:47:52 +0100
> From: Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org>
> To: GNOME Usability Mailing List <Usability gnome org>
> Subject: [Usability] Themus usability
>
> Hey usability dudes,
>
> I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the themus UI,
> before I go off and code something broken.
>
> Themus is a themes:/// vfs-method for nautilus that shows "metathemes"
> (which we are now just calling themes, iirc) and previews for each one.
> At the moment, you right-click on the theme and choose "Apply theme" to
> apply it.

Is there any consensus yet that creating all these new 'protocols' is
bad?
Can we have special folders that behave differntly but still have a
corresponding real file path (I mean if we can do it for devices we should
be able to do it for Fonts, Themes, Control Panel, etc)?

> The original idea was to launch a cut-down version of the theme manager
> when you click on a theme to modify the different subthemes of that
> theme only, but that has not been implemented for 2.4.

I have a general problem with the Theme Manager previews.  I feel the
preview does not give enough information for me to know what the theme
will look like, on the top left most of them have an open button that
looks the same so guessing what the theme will be like is largely based on
the folder icon on the bottom right.

> I have 2 questions.
>
> 1. What should happen in 2.4 when you click on a theme? At the moment,
> nothing happens. I could leave this, or I could have the theme being
> applied. But then this would change in 2.6.

Based on the theme manager I might expect the theme to be applied when
clicked on.  However if you are taking the File Manger metaphor seriously
(and I think you really should) double clicking should cause the theme
change the same way double clicking on any other file runs its default
appliction.

Definately be consistant with the file manager and follow its behaviour,
go with Double Click to activate the change.  (I dont know if there is an
option to have actions happen on single click like in KDE but if there is
then just follow the behaviour of the file manager).

> 2. If a font is suggested in the theme, it is applied. This means if you

<snip>  Dont know.  I'll skip this one.

> Thanks for your help,

- Alan H.