[Usability] Re: Alacarte UI

[Reinout van Schouwen <reinouts gnome org>]

Hi,

On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:23:25 -0500, Travis Watkins wrote:

> [1] http://www.realistanew.com/random/alacarte-dialog4.png

Not too bad. :) 

Allow me to throw in some thoughts. GNOME is more and more moving away
from strict hierarchies. Examples are Epiphany topics and nautilus tags.
Alacarte looks a bit "old fashioned" to me because of the strict menu
structure. What if it had another column with tags per launcher? When
these tags are entered later in, say, Deskbar or Beagle, then these menu
items could turn up. Of course, the menu category for a launcher would
also function as a tag.

Also, I am a bit unconfortable with the checkboxes in the 'Shown' column,
and the shown and hidden items in a menu being displayed in no particular
order. It is a very indirect way of editing the menu. My feeling is that
either a menu item is shown, in which case it should be visible in the
main pane, or it is not, in which case it should be displayed in a
separate "Suggested" pane below the other items. A suggested item could
then be moved to the Shown part, by drag-n-drop, double-click, copy-paste
or an Add button and vice versa.

regards,

-- 
Reinout van Schouwen