Re: [Usability] Mute in GNOME mixer applet does not have correct behavior

[Jaap Haitsma <jaap haitsma org>]

On Sat, 2006-03-18 at 17:49 -0500, Rodney Dawes wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-03-18 at 21:57 +0100, Jaap Haitsma wrote:
> > On Sat, 2006-03-18 at 14:33 -0500, Rodney Dawes wrote:
> 
> > I don't see why the "0" icon is the worst icon ever. I agree if it isn't
> > used properly like in the case you describe it's not good. That was even
> > one the reasons that I filed bug [1].
> 
> Because it has no meaning. A volume level of "0" should not be something
> between "low" and "mute". It should one of them. The icon exists because
> whoever wrote the code in the first place, decided they absolutely had
> to have this icon.

Mute means that I pushed the mute button on my audio amplifier. The
volume knob could have any value then. 

Volume 0 means that I turned the volume knob completely to anti
clockwise.


> > What is the problem of using the "0" icon for 0% volume if the audio is
> > not muted?
> 
> What is the problem of using the "low" icon for 0% volume then? If the
> audio is not muted, it is low. 

The "low" icon has a sound wave so it indicates that sound is coming out
of your speakers. If you would use that for volume 0 it would be
confusing.

> It seems rather pointless to have two
> different icons for 0% and 1% where the 0% icon is not mute. Just make
> them the same, and get rid of the special case for 0 in the code.

The you get the bug I was referring to. I.e. volume is set to zero (so
mute icon is displayed). User thinks "I want sound". He hits the unmute
key on his keyboard. Result: nothing seems to happen and the user is
confused. This bug is present in your case, isn't it?



Let's take a step back
People are used to the way that audio amplifiers work. Amplifiers have a
volume knob and a mute button. We want to show the state of these two
things in one icon. Then the most logical to me sounds.

1. Display mute icon if mute button is active
2. Show volume level if mute is not active. 

Jaap