From kde-bugs-dist Wed Jun 12 16:04:13 2002 From: Joseph Manojlovich Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 16:04:13 +0000 To: kde-bugs-dist Subject: Bug#43832: No way to set default page to open up by default X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-bugs-dist&m=102389886712272 > If this changes, how can the user choose another template? File->New ?? > All solutions to that little question are hacks, or limit usability > greatly. Oh? Seems to work for every other office suite I've ever used. Make not showing the dialog box optional then, and have the dialog on by default. > For example the answers given were to open it via a menu entry after we > are allready in an empty document. This is not very nice as users will > not be aware this exists Watch somebody using Microsoft Office or StarOffice. They have no trouble realizing that to get a different template, you start up the program and then go to File->New. This behavior is set in the millions of office suite users, and fighting it is pretty pointless and will only frustrate users. > or when they find out changes are they have allready (sic) modified > the existing document creating a range of confusing situations. You win on this one, in theory. However, users of commerical office suites deal just fine with this issue every day. Don't fight set behaviors. You can't win, and will only frustrate users. > You also miss the fact that this dialog has more then just the template > section. Perhaps so, but I'd bet that 99.99% of the time users will simply want to close the dialog first and then use the standard File menu items (File->New, File->Open) instead. When users open a word processor, they typically want to type something. They already have parts of their document in mind, and want to pound out text right away. Presenting them with a dialog box to pick a template will cause them to need to switch drives, and deal with this new UI situation. Meanwhile, the text in their minds is quickly receding into oblivion, as they shift concentration, just to pick the default template anyway. When most people want to open an existing document, they double click on the file icon. I rarely see people starting Microsoft Word only to click File->Open. Seriously, do you think users want to pick a different template every time they launch these apps? This is a waste of their time. And if this dialog box is so great, why don't all applications have it then? Kate, for example? > The 'most of the time' parts of your question can be answered with; > then you can simply press enter most of the time. And frustrate users? People don't like pushy modal dialog boxes in apps. They just want to work. > I don't think the current behavior should change. **** What is so hard about adding a option box to the dialog "make my selection default"? Or "don't show this dialog box again"? Ignoring everything else, this would be a solution that should be amicable to both sides of this debate, at the cost of one checkbox and a few lines of code. **** I say to put up a voting poll about this and other UI issues. Let the real users come forth and say how the use the apps. Us sitting around and armchair pontificating will only go so far. Koffice is a great light-weight office suite. Please don't bog down users with unnecessary UI fluff. (Complete bug history is available at http://bugs.kde.org/db/43/43832.html)