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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: [Fwd: Giving Feedback to Launching Applications]
From:       Casey Allen Shobe <shobe1knobe () softhome ! net>
Date:       2000-01-24 7:44:04
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Yes!  Zoom rectangles!  That is a brilliant idea!

1. Code already exists for them.
2. They could be turned off from Control Center (I hate animation and know what
I'm doing so...)
3. Take no time to load....

Wonderful idea.  I would _love_ to see that in KDE2.

-Rivyn

On Sun, 23 Jan 2000, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Splash screens are all very well if a particular application needs to
> spend a long time loading or preparing data. I'm thinking along the
> lines of The Gimp or many games.
> 
> But for general applications, which load in times under a few seconds
> even on slow hardware, the overhead of a splash screen is unneccessary.
> 
> Remember the point of the exercise is to give the user some feedback
> that something has happened after clicking an icon. This feedback needs
> to be obvious and clearly associated with the launching application. But
> at the same time, it also should be unobtrusive and brief so to avoid
> annoying the user. And finally, the process should use minimal resources
> so as to not delay the launch by any significant amount or be a drain on
> the system.
> 
> So, my proposal is to keep it plain and simple. Just before KDE launches
> an application, it draws a series of zoom rectangles outward from the
> point of the click to the edge of the screen, and then launches the app
> in the usual way.
> 
> (Any other proposals, eg Rik Hemsley's plan to insert a taskbar entry
> immediately, or Waldo Bastian's "bubble window" which drifts slowly to
> the top of the screen, can still be used, and in fact there is merit in
> many of them.)
> 
> Zoom rectangles have many benefits:
> 
> 1) They're clearly associated with the user's action. They originate at
> the exact point where the icon or menu item was clicked.
> 
> 2) They clearly show the user that the computer has reacted to their
> action.
> 
> 3) Its unobtrusive. No splash screens to hog the screen or take focus.
> No popup labels that disappear before the user has time to read them.
> 
> 4) Its quick, even on slow hardware.
> 
> 5) The resources used are minimal. No windows, no icons, just a series
> of drawn rectangles.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Steven D'Aprano
-- 
- Rivyn (Casey Allen Shobe) - KDE Artists Team
- shobe1knobe@softhome.net - ICQ UIN: 1494523
- http://lightning.prohosting.com/~rivyn (KDE Devel Icons)

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