Re: [Usability] Themus usability

[Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org>]

On Mon, 2003-07-21 at 16:47, Alan Horkan wrote:
> 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?

It's not ideal. My personal favourite solution would be to have a
x-gnome:/// URI with special folders underneath it. But we don't have
that yet, and we'd need a nautilus that could hide the special URI
(which it can't do yet either).

> 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)?

If by "real file path" you mean something on the local file system
(file:///something), we can't do that with the current architecture.

> 
> > 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.

Can you file a bug, please? Against the control center would be great.
If you could include what you think the preview should look like that
would be helpful too.

> > 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).

Yeah, by "clicking on a theme" I meant single- or double- clicking
depending on how nautilus is configured (it's an option). The "Run file"
action. I'll make it activate the theme.

> > 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.

-- 
Andrew Sobala <aes gnome org>

The lighting designer is expected to be a master of art, science,
history, psychology, communications, politics and sometimes even
mind reading. -- Stage Lighting Design 101