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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Clipboard
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () cosmos ! net ! au>
Date:       2002-08-04 17:25:09
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On Mon,  5 Aug 2002 00:58, Friedrich W. H. Kossebau wrote:

> As you can see on all the screenshots on kde-look.org and elsewhere
> noone seems to change the order of the clipbpard buttons on the
> toolbar. Even the symbols might have never changed since their
> introduction anno domini (was it ms word 4.0?). But is this due to
> usage tradition, or is the concept really the best? I doubt the
> later. When in mouse mode and about to work with the clipboard I
> always find myself to stop for a moment to remind what symbol is what
> (yes, I DO work almost daily with a computer ;)

Agreed. The traditional icons for cut-copy-paste don't have an obvious 
meaning. But then I believe that is because toolbars with icons aren't 
really a good UI solution. Whoever said that a picture is worth a 
thousand words has obviously never tried to design a toolbar.

> So I worked out an alternative solution. The reasoning is as
> followed:
>
> 1. Both actions "copy" and "cut" have in common the adding of
> something to the clipboard. Thus they both have an element that shows
> the adding: the moving paper. The difference is quite obvious shown:
> copy leaves the original, cut leaves an empty place. Seems more
> obvious to me than a scissor and the doubled paper (haven't tested
> for small sizes like 16x16, though).

The new-page-with-empty-place looks like a page moving. Its not obvious 
that it means "cut", but then 90% of icons also have a non-obvious 
meaning. I don't think your icon is any worse that the scissors icon.

> 2. Look at the old copy symbol. The new paper moves to the left. But
> the clipboard symbol is usually at the right. Now I think it makes
> more sense if the cutted/copied paper moves in the direction of the
> clipboard symbol.

I don't think the direction really makes that much difference. I've 
always seen the traditional icon as the front paper being the original, 
with the copy being dragged off from underneath and towards the bottom 
right. That's probably because English speakers write towards the 
bottom right.

Personally, I think the copy icon should have the original page, with 
the copy above it, offset to the right and down, regardless of the 
position of the paste icon.

> 3. I placed one action to the right, the other to the left of the
> clipboard symbol. Maybe this placement makes it easier to associate
> the action also with the place. This way you can already start to
> move your mouse cursor into the direction of the clipboard symbol
> while remembering what is where. Arrived at the position of the
> clibboard symbol a simple move to the left or to the right will reach
> your aim.

There is no difference between remembering the position of three icons 
Cut-Copy-Paste and Cut-Paste-Copy. Worse, by re-ordering the icons, you 
weaken the association with the Cut-Copy-Paste menus.

> 4. The kicker applet "klipper" is nice, but ouf of my work flow. Why
> not offer the whole usable klipper content via an additional dropdown
> menu on long button click, like with the navigation buttons of
> konqueror?

That sounds reasonable.

> 5. I am not sure about this: Wouldn't it make more sense if the
> clipboard is not greyed out if no content is available but shows the
> status by an empty clipboard? The clipboard could be greyed out if
> inserting is not possible, like in readonly mode.

Show a greyed-out empty clipboard if there is nothing to paste, and a 
greyed-out full clipboard if there is something to paste but nowhere to 
paste it.

One final comment: in your sample gif, the paste icon is animated. This 
is not a good idea. I can hardly wait to hear what Sean will say, 
although now that I've pre-empted him he will probably make a liar of 
me but saying that he likes it.

We have discussed animated icons before, and decided that generally 
they are a bad bad bad idea. They are distracting, they draw the eye 
away from where you want look to somewhere you don't want to look, and 
for people with attention-deficit-disorder they are much worse.

Think of the hated blink tag in HTML.

Animated icons are okay as part of an eye-candy theme that the user can 
choose if they like it, but not as a standard or default theme.

Overall, you have some good ideas which are worth working on.


-- 
Steven D'Aprano

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