[Usability] Recent Files menu

[Emmanuele Bassi <ebassi gmail com>]

[Please, Cc: me since I'm not subscribed to the list]

Hi all.

I'm working on the recently used resources management in Gtk/Gnome (both
by maintaining the current libegg/recent-files code and by writing its
replacement).

The current viewer for the recently used files enables the creation of a
sub-menu and of inlined menu items, by attaching them to an already set
menu. Downside: the resulting object is not a widget - even if it does
provide a widget - and its API is... well... complex to say the least.

Since I'm in the process of re-writing this widget with the new recent
files manager, I've also done my homework (:-)) and scanned through the
HIG and through the usability list archives, in order to see if there's
a preferred way to show the recently used resources.  It seems that
inlined is the preferred visualization method - even though I disagree
with it, both from the developer's[1] and from user's[2] POV.

By asking various users on the "reference platforms" (namely: win32 and
os-x), I saw that the os-x users tend to resort to the recently used
files more than the win32 users, because the recently used files list is
longer; the win32 users, especially on the Office suite, tend to use the
side pane, containing some of the common actions and the recently used
files list, then to use it more than the menu version of it - I guess
because the icons are just more discorable.

On the gtk-devel list, when I proposed the creation of a new set of
widgets, the common reaction was "leave a menu widget in"[3] (I'm
creating a widget that would make feasible the implementation of a
office-xp-like side pane containing the recently used files, anyway).
So, I guess we need a menu.

My gut feeling, me having asked the users, and me having used the os-x
"Open Recent" sub-menu, all say that the sub-menu approach should be at
least reconsidered.

What do the usability team thinks?

Kind regards,
 Emmanuele.

+++

[1] you need both the menu *and* the starting entry point for injecting
the recently used resources, opposed to having just a menu item to
attach the submenu; you need a non-widget class to create a widget.

[2] an inlined menu must be kept short (4 items max.), or: "I open three
documents at a time, and I want to access the documents I opened
yesterday"; the File menu must wait the building of the recent files
list to be displayed, or: "why the menu is so sluggish?".

[3]
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2005-June/msg00002.html

-- 
Emmanuele Bassi <ebassi gmail com>
Web site: http://log.emmanuelebassi.net