Re: [Usability] Can't Handle it anymore! (Consistent toolbars?)

[Kai Willadsen <kaiw itee uq edu au>]

On Thu, 2005-03-31 at 20:15 +0100, Alan Horkan wrote: 
> On Thu, 31 Mar 2005, Kai Willadsen wrote:
> > Well, in addition to the /desktop/gnome/interface/toolbar_detachable
> > GConf key, there's /desktop/gnome/interface/menubar_detachable. Of
> > course, I'm not actually able to find a single application that honours
> > it - it may be a dead preference.
> 
> The existence of the preference is a good sign as far as I'm concerned.

Digging (deep) into cvs - the preference has been there since the 1.4
days, and it was removed from the UI in the transition to 2.0. That's a
pretty clear indication that it wasn't thought to be generally useful. 

Also, I can't find a reference at the moment, but I believe that the
gnome-ui-properties dialogue was considered to be an ideal candidate for
flaming death at some stage - the "preferences revisited" plan has this
stuff listed under "Unix user toys".

> An option for "Detachable Menu bars" could be added to
> gnome-ui-properties, off by default and then I can go about submitting
> patches to applications to honour the preference and add a menu Handle
> box.

I still don't think you've given a reason for wanting to allow
detachable menu bars. The fact that we have a hidden preference for it
isn't justification.

(and answering your other mail at the same time)

> Given the current functionality of GTK toolbars their is little reason
> for it, and if anything having them on menubars allows users to shoot
> themselves in the foot and accidentally rearrange their menus.

Isn't this an excellent reason to not allow it?

> I would like the possiblity of putting a toolbar (icons only)
> alongside the menubar, a space which is usually wasted.  That
> functionality would necessitate including a handle on menubars.
> The reason no one you know seems to want this is because it is not
> currently possible.

Do you have an actual use case that requires detachable menubars?
(As mentioned by someone else, no menubar handle is required to pack a
toolbar next to it.)

-- 
Kai Willadsen <kaiw itee uq edu au>