Re: [Usability] Using keyboard layouts

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

> i just had to explain to somebody how gnome-keyboard-properties works,
> again. Clicking on a layout is not enough to activate it. Instead, one
> has to drag and drop the entry to the top of the list to activate it.
> This is counterintuitive, especially because it is stated nowhere.

The list in the layouts tab is used to define the switching cycle -
which is used by the keyboard indicator applet and/or keyboard
shortcuts.

> The
> help pages suggest to use the keyboard indicator applet. That's fine,
> but a user who wants to change the keyboard layout does not
> necessarily have the applet in his panel or comes to the idea that
> changing a layout needs an applet.

You're right. It would be better to have the applet automatically added
to the panel when more than one layout is present in the layout list.
The last I heard, there were technical reasons why that can't be done.
Sergey, is that still the case?

> So, i think this window needs improvements. But before i start to talk
> about how to improve it i would like to know what you think about and
> if you agree or disagree with me.

Yes, some changes have been made recently. The layout tab now pretty
much corresponds to the mockup on the page that Sergey linked to [1].

Hajo: I've been trying to collect use cases for keyboard layout
switching. Can you give me a few examples of how you have seen that
functionality used?

Allan

[1]
http://live.gnome.org/UsabilityProject/Whiteboard/KeyboardPreferences

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