Re: [Usability] default titlebar button layout [was: preferences windows, window preferences]

[Jacob Beauregard <jake13jake comcast net>]

On Tuesday 22 May 2007 20:57:12 Elijah Newren wrote:
> On 5/22/07, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com> wrote:
> > (I've rearranged them for myself, because having the close button right
> > next to the others is stupid. But I think that's an argument for having
> > a better default arrangement, not for making the customization easier.)
>
> I imagine this is the kind of thing that would annoy users simply
> because it is change, but which is probably beneficial enough to
> change at some point anyway.  I *hate* accidentally clicking maximize
> when I want a window closed.  ;-)  Anyway, I wonder if we should make
> a tracker bug about little things like this to change and then do them
> all at once.  Anyone know of a relevant case for whether users tend to
> be happier about lots of changes once or lots of little interface
> changes over time?

A lot of windowing systems separate the close button with a spacer. Though I 
agree with the utility of doing so, my own mental model for how I use the 
buttons does not reflect the separation.

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On Tuesday 22 May 2007 20:45:41 Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> Because the ease of doing anything in an interface should be
> proportional to how many people want to do it, how often they want to
> do it, how urgently they want to do it, and the average benefit of
> doing it.
>
> With rearranging title bar buttons, hardly anyone wants to, those who
> do typically do it only once, it's never urgent, and the benefit is not
> great. Given that, it's remarkable that it doesn't even require
> recompiling.

I've already explained why the benefit is great for me. It helps me perform 
organizational strategies in a restricted environment. The ease of doing so 
is one of the biggest reasons I prefer KDE to GNOME. There are a lot of 
reasons I'd like to use GNOME, but as long as issues like this are at hand, 
the benefit I get from KDE, which has huge pitfalls when compared to GNOME in 
most areas, is much greater.


There is one major problem with what you are saying: Apart from the fact 
people rarely change any preferences, if specific functionality is not 
available via settings, users often expect that it doesn't exist. If I asked 
my mom to perform the task of moving the buttons from the top-right of the 
window to the top-left of the window, she wouldn't know how to do it. She 
would probably spend a half hour in the preferences menu bar looking for 
things that might be able to do it. She might want the utility of moving them 
to the left of the titlebar, or issuing a separator between the minimize, 
maximize, and close, but she wouldn't be able to do it. Many other users 
might not like having a spacer between min/max/close if that's what you tell 
them is the optimal way.

In addition, not many users want to have to edit any text files, nevermind 
edit the source code, quite similarly they never want to have to edit 
xorg.conf. You two already have use cases for modifying the title bar, I 
myself have multiple use cases where I switch it back and forth depending on 
whether or not I have my usb mouse plugged in for periods of time. My god, I 
change my button orientation more often than I change my theme, nevermind my 
keyboard shortcuts.

If anyone has a logical explanation of why these things shouldn't be presented 
to users, please tell me.

>
> (I've rearranged them for myself, because having the close button right
> next to the others is stupid. But I think that's an argument for having
> a better default arrangement, not for making the customization easier.)
>

So are you saying that the arrangement should put the min/max/close buttons in 
the best way? I am saying the best way for me will change depending on 
whether I'm using a touchpad or a mouse.

Whether or not a specific layout presents the most utility is dependent on how 
the user interacts with the system. We, however, have no control over that, 
so I'm not quite understanding how you came to the conclusion that there is a 
best way of ordering the buttons on the title bar.

> Cheers