Re: [Usability] File Dialog Add/Remove Places Mockup

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_ freenet de>]

On Sat, Feb 24, 2007 at 12:44:28AM +0100, David Christian Berg wrote:

> Frankly, if only the add button was _only_ active, when one can actually
> add bookmark (I think it should be disabled, when the places list is
> active) and had a bookmark icon, instead of a plus, I think this would
> really be enough.

The Add/Remove buttons eat a lot of space and are likely the least 
efficient method, as both context menus and drag-and-drop should be faster 
to operate. Contex menus save you from moving your mouse all over the place, 
drag-and-drop works on large target areas and at least adding is very  
logical, going from source to target.

The Add button is associated with both lists, bot sits there like it 
belongs to Places only.


> I don't like the idea of the icons changing. This doesn't seem to be
> more discoverable to me.

If discoverability would be the only aspect, large static buttons are 
hard to beat. The icon-buttons are meant to not eat extra space, provide 
target area for tooltips, be right in place, making their use almost 
as fast as context menus (rather small target areas, but close to the 
pointer).


> The other idea with the buttons in between seems quite tempting.
> However, I don't think the image of _moving_ something is what we should
> promote (hence now arrow. We should use the bookmarks concept of
> browsers. So I definitely see the "Places" or "Bookmarks" header in that
> list. That explains.

Hmm, yeah arrows are kinda overloaded. But it's important to express 
the from-to thing here.


> Hmm, I must getting this idea: I know it's not quite easy to do in GTK,
> but why not have to icons aligned right in the header: One bookmark icon
> and one trash icon. One is active, when one can add a bookmark, the
> other one, if one is selected and you can delete it.

Icons in the headers? The headers are for labels and sorting. I don't 
see much room there. Icons of low height with any distance to the cursor 
after item selection would be slow to operate.


> > > http://thorwil.affenbande.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/open_files_buttons_between_01.png
> > http://thorwil.affenbande.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/open_files_icon_buttons.png


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Thorsten Wilms

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