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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: taskbar grouping, off by default please.
From:       Waldo Bastian <bastian () kde ! org>
Date:       2001-05-16 4:04:04
[Download RAW message or body]

On Tuesday 15 May 2001 22:02, Torsten Rahn wrote:
> On Wednesday 16 May 2001 04:06, Kurt Granroth wrote:
> > > Leave the current taskbar grouping on by default, please. The
> > > current implementation is highy productive. (I know because I'm
> > > highly productive). :P
> >
> > It *is* handy once you learned it.. but I don't think it should be on
> > by default.  It's just too different.  When the change first happened,
>
> When the change first happened it was implemented in a
> a way that made it unclear to the user what happened. During the first
> week the user _had_ to click the taskbar for 2 secs to find out
> where his "crashing" tasks have gone ...
> Now the user sees at least once  he presses the taskbar at all
> where his tasks have gone. I think that's obvious enough ...

You miss the point. We already had a grouping feature. It's called "virtual 
desktops". The taskbar shows you which apps you have running on a certain 
desktop. With this second grouping feature that is gone. I have to move my 
mouse and click to see which apps are running. I have no indication which 
task is mimimized and which one is not. This is a step back in terms of 
usability.

> Also I'd like to know whether Gnome and Windows XP will have it on by 
> default too

Puhlease, if we want to remain the leading desktop we need to think for 
ourselves not sheepishly follow the mistakes of others.

======================

Re: Taskbar Grouping In CVS 
by Solhell on Monday May 14, @06:50PM 
First of all, we need to see the big piture.
Don't implement something just because it is in winXP or it is in Gnome. And 
if you really need to implement it make sure to implement it correctly and in 
a smart way. I am not sure about the details of KDE implementation, but here 
are my obvious observations:

 - Don't need taskbar grouping if there are only two konqueror windows are 
open. It just slows you down. You need two clicks instead of one click to 
activate windows. So put a limit (4-5) on open windows before grouping them.

 - Only group windows that really can show some differentiating text to 
identify which is which. An example is the url of the konqueror window. A bad 
example is gnome xterm windows. I have three xterms open. Gnome groups them 
and I am really frustrated since there is no text identifying which one is 
which. If all of them were on the taskbar, at least mentally I know their 
locations on the taskbar which makes it easy to switch.

 - Use the taskbar fully before switching to grouping. There is no point of 
grouping windows when the rest of the taskbar is empty. It just slows down 
the productivity.

======================

Cheers,
Waldo


-- 
bastian@kde.org | SuSE Labs KDE Developer | bastian@suse.com

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