Re: [Usability] The global menubar, Fitt's Law and usability

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005, Raphael Bosshard wrote:

> Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 20:42:45 +0200
> From: Raphael Bosshard <whistler fnord ch>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] The global menubar, Fitt's Law and usability
>
> Hello there!
>
> Today I read the short discussion about a global menu bar for GNOME 3.0
> which took place at the desktop-devel list, early april.
>
> This made my ask myself; is the global menu bar a good idea? I always
> thought so, but what do you (as usability experts) think?

I don't consider myself an expert but here's my humble opinion.

If you have read the previous discussions you should already know that it
is not yet practical to implement a global menu bar.  There really isn't
any point in talking about it until someone does the necessary work to
make it possible.

The various discussions have suggested that a global menubar could be
problematic for users who prefer sloppy focus. Other disadvantages and
trade-offs have definately been mentioned, but I dont think anyone has
said it it was an inherently bad idea.  If you think there are other
fundamental flaws in the idea feel free to mention them.

I think we've talked about it as much as we possibly can and all that is
left is for someone to make a prototype implementation.  Even if it did
work already I wouldn't be rushing to change Gnome to use a global menubar
by default.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

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