Re: [Usability] I have a problem

[Paul Davis <paul linuxaudiosystems com>]

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 5:01 PM, Benjamin Otte <otte gnome org> wrote:

so lets take this particular point as an example of what i think the
basic problem is here:

> * There's button(s) that say  ( Notes | Edit )
> How are these buttons different from notebooks? Is it just visually
> different or is it a completely different interaction? Because from
> the interaction described it looks like a notebook to me, just with a
> different UI. But I can't really pinpoint what's missing from
> GtkNotebook for this. Also, should we try to get rid of notebooks and
> replace it with buttons like these in other places?

this is a cart vs. horse problem.

i think you're absolutely correct that functionally, this is identical
to a notebook. but there's function, and there's design.

this design calls for an alignment of UI elements that isn't possible
to accomplish with the current widget set (how would you get that More
combo/menubar/button into the tab list?). is the design wrong to
attempt that? if its wrong, why? if its right, how to accomodate the
design if the current widgets don't.

in most of what you've written here, you seem to put the widget set
first, and you seem to be suggesting that UI design should work with
the constraints that flow from the widget set, because that will
result in good UIs. the other position is that good UI design should
come first, and then the widget set and specific widgets need to be
modified to accomodate the design(s).

in this case, that would imply a rather complicated change (or maybe
its simple) to the notebook widget. so there are 4 choices:

   * possibly complex and far-reaching changes to existing widgets -
no new widgets, but the design can be supported
   * new widgets - creates ambiguity in the widget set, but the design
can be supported
   * modify the design so that it can implemented with existing widgets
   * reject design because the widget set can't support it

my feeling on this is that it depends a lot on the quality of the
design and the resistance on the part of the designer to modifying it
so that the design can be implemented using the existing widget set.