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

[Jaap Haitsma <jaap haitsma org>]

On Sat, 2006-03-18 at 21:53 -0500, Rodney Dawes wrote:
> On Sun, 2006-03-19 at 00:16 +0100, Jaap Haitsma wrote:
> > 1. Display mute icon if mute button is active
> > 2. Show volume level if mute is not active. 
> 
> This is basically the same thing I said in my last mail,
> which was to remove the special casing of 0, and make it
> use the -low volume icon. In other words, to revert to the
> example in your first mail, we should do this:
> 
> volume(x)       Icon
> ----------------------
> mute            mute
>   0 <= x < 1/3  low
> 1/3 <= x < 2/3  medium
> 2/3 <= x < 3/3  high
> 
> 
> The stock_volume-0 icon will exist no longer in 2.15 anyway,
> and the others will be renamed to follow the naming spec. To
> resolve the issue in 2.14, one should use the old icon names
> as the applet still does, but optimize in the case where one
> of those may be going away. We can stop using -0 now, so I
> see no reason not to. I would much rather not have this exact
> same discussion again in another 5-6 months. Simply stating
> that -low would be confusing because it has a single ) for 0%
> is just as well as saying it is confusing for other very low
> volume percentage levels where the user may not be able to
> hear any audible output from the speakers. Just use -low.
> 
Your proposal is indeed better than the current implementation.

* Current implementation (use mute icon for volume = 0 and mute = off)

volume(x)       Icon
----------------------
mute            mute
0               mute
0 < x < 1/3     low
1/3 <= x < 2/3  med
2/3 <= x < 1    max

because as explained that leads to confusion if the volume is 0 and the
user hit the unmute key and nothing seems to happen.

* Your proposal (use low icon for volume = 0 and mute = off)

volume(x)       Icon
----------------------
mute            mute
  0 <= x < 1/3  low
1/3 <= x < 2/3  medium
2/3 <= x < 3/3  high

Though IMHO it is better the current proposal. I see two possible minor
bug reports that might be filed:
1. Volume is at 32% (low icon is displayed). User wants to set volume to
zero (no audio is currently playing) by holding down volume down key on
his keyboard. Result nothing seems to happen because the icon does not
change
2. A non gstreamer app mutes an audio card by setting the volume to
zero. The applet will then still show the "low" icon which is a bit
weird because the app just muted the audio.

* My proposal (use "0" icon for volume = 0 and mute = off)

volume(x)       Icon
----------------------
mute            mute
0               0
0 < x < 1/3     low
1/3 <= x < 2/3  med
2/3 <= x < 1    max

Bug 1 is this case will not be filed and the possibility that bug 2 is
filed is also lower, because there is a visual clue that the volume
equals zero.

So at the cost of one extra icon the icons spec we probably prevent the
filing of two bugs. So the "0" icon has a clear use. Can you explain me
what the problem is of adding it to the spec?

Thanks

Jaap

BTW I am currently working on a patch such that the dialog that is shown
when you press the keyboard shortcuts for volume up/down mute uses icons
from the current theme. Probably it's best to wait until the new icon
spec lands before commiting this. What is the current timeline for
landing the icon spec in GNOME 2.15?