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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: [Fwd: Giving Feedback to Launching Applications]
From:       Rik Hemsley <rik () kde ! org>
Date:       2000-01-21 4:55:04
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#if Andrew B. Arthur
> > Two of the issues that always confuses newbies to KDE is:
> > 
> >          * They don't know if an app is launching...
> >          * They accidently double click and icon and launch the app twice...

<sarcasm> Congratulations ! You're the One Millionth person to table
this issue ! You win a 'busy cursor' ! </sarcasm>

Yep. This subject has been brought up very often (check the list archive).

The problem is how to implement it (from the developer's point of view),
not what kind of representation should be made to the user.

We're all pretty much agreed that we hate splash screens and busy cursors
(well, most of us are - the others don't count ;) so...

> > The other day I was using the WindowMaker Window Manager, and I found
> > the fact that it greys out the application being launched quite nice. I
> > was thinking a solution like this would be prefect for KDE (although
> > some old time KDE users might object for reasons so you may want to make
> > it possible to disable.

I don't think you'd get any argument from 'old time KDE users' - after
all, KDE isn't that old, and the lack of _any_ app launching indication
is worse than at least some.

I like WindowMaker's little trick, but have you considered what happens
when you launch an app from the K menu rather than from the panel's
buttons ?

My favourite solution (and one I'm actually working to implement) is
to create a taskbar entry for the app immediately as it is launched.

This taskbar entry looks something like 'kmail ...'. When the app
actually hits the screen (maps a window) the entry is replaced with
the normal entry.

Of course this could be extended to, for example, show a spinning cog
or something in the taskbar button as the app loads, but please remember
that many KDE users are running X remotely (on Xterms, etc) so animation
isn't really an option for the default behaviour, though of course anything
can be configurable. Personally, I prefer to find the best solution
in the first place rather than make everything configurable, but that's
another story...

> > User Clicks Button. Starts application. Icon/Link/Menu Item becomes
> > greyed out (either lightened in contrast or has every other pixel
> > dropped out to the background of the panel). User can not accidently
> > launch this app again until the window of the app appears. When the
> > app's Window/Document loads, it then ungreys the icon/link and allows
> > the app to loaded again (this way the user can launch the app multiple
> > times if [s]he needs to). In case for some reason the app never loads a
> > window (such as it crashes or fails or uses a non-standard method) the
> > icon automatically becomes un-grey after 15 or 20 seconds.

Ah.. you have considered the K menu.. Of course the menu disappears as
soon as you click the item, so that's not much use :)

One thing I would like to see in KDE is the 'blinking' of menu items
that NeXTStep does... but this is offtopic.

> > Mac OS Classic: You can only launch an app once. You can see the problem
> > with this solution.

We're trying to get KDE apps to work in a smart way - so that when you
'start' an app, it actually opens a new window of that app (a document,
if you like). So the concept of an application is less distinct - we
move towards 'tools' and documents...

> > GNOME "Busy Cursor" Program: It loads a cursor while an app launches.
> > The problem with is it gives the user the false idea that [s]he can not
> > keep working while the app launches.

Ugh. Have you got the address of the author so I can go beat them
to death ? ;)

> > GNOME Other Solutions: Show some kind of progress bar in the panel. The
> > problem with this is poor assocation (the user doesn't have a clue what
> > is going on -- just sees a progress bar bar with the app name above it
> > in the panel) with an app launching.

Yup.. This is why I prefer to make a taskbar entry (the user already
knows what that means). A progress bar ? Huh ? How the hell do you
find out how far your OS is through loading the binary and shared
libs, resolving symbols etc ? I'd like to see this :)

> > Windows, OS/2, Solaris etc: I don't know since I haven't used them
> > recently.

Me neither.. but KDE runs on Solaris, so I presume you mean OpenLook ? ;)

> > I am sure this will be well argued out... But at least it was brought up
> > as an issue :)

Yep. Again please check the list archives and see what has already
been argued out.

Cheers,
Rik


-- 
2. Implicate yourself in every interpretation.

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