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

[Matthew Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

Alan Horkan wrote:
>...
> 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.

No, that function would need only a handle on the toolbars. The menu bar 
isn't going anywhere, it's just shrinking horizontally.

As for rearranging toolbars in general, modes are to be avoided whenever 
there is a non-modal or quasimodal solution available, so a "Lock the 
Toolbars" mode is the wrong solution to this problem. It's a classic 
example of Microsoft's usability staff being great at finding problems 
(people rearrange their toolbars by mistake) but poor at choosing solutions.

A better solution would be to get rid of the handles, and make the 
entire toolbar draggable when the Alt key was held down. That would make 
rearrangement similarly difficult to do accidentally, but would also 
make it easier to do when you really did want to do it, because the 
target area would be the entire toolbar instead of a tiny handle. (As an 
added bonus, it would reduce the average mouse movement required when 
rearranging; calculating why is left as an exercise for the reader.)

--
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/