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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Error messages and the status bar
From:       Carsten Pfeiffer <carpdjih () cetus ! zrz ! TU-Berlin ! DE>
Date:       2000-04-15 10:07:20
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On Sat, Apr 15, 2000 at 03:45:18PM +1000, Steven D'Aprano wrote:

Hiya,

> In my job I use a horrible accounting package that uses the status bar
> for displaying all but the most fatal errors. As a result, even after
> two years of using it 8 hours a day, I still find myself puzzled when
> the software doesn't react the way I'm expecting it to, and it often
> takes me seconds to remember to look at the status bar. Because the
> staus bar is not very visible, the user has to make a conscious
> decision to look at it.
> 
> Some of my other workmates, who aren't as confident around computers
> as I am, don't notice the status bar at all.
> 
> So, the point is, the status bar should not be used for important
> messages or displaying errors. It should only be used for displaying
> information which *might* be useful or interesting, but isn't vital.

hmm, in KDE-2, we have this wonderful KNotify, which gets any sort of
event/message and then pops up either a messagebox, plays a sound or logs
something to a file.
We could have a configuration that specifies which messages are logged,
so e.g. all statusbar messages could automatically get logged. Then we'd
just need a menubar-entry to show a little logviewer.

> There was some talk a while ago about the best way to get rid of
> confirmation dialogs and error dialogs. The suggestion was made that
> the status bar could be used for this. This is not a good idea because
> error messages need to be obvious, not hidden away at the bottom of
> the window.

>From the programmer's point of view: again KNotify - an app shouldn't
directly manipulate a statusbar's contents or pop up a messagebox, it
should just use KNotify and give it a "hint" what sort of message it is.
A configured KNotify could then decide how to display the message.
This is IMHO very similar to the KAction principle: an abstraction from
the GUI by reducing it to the basic functionality: "sending a message to 
the user".

[...]
> And of course, configuration being KDE's watchword, this feature
> should be configurable: if the user has enough screen real estate, she
> can choose to have the error bar always visible, instead of appearing
> and disappearing as needed, or to switch it off and use dialogs for
> everything.

This would perfectly be possible this way.

Cheers,
Carsten Pfeiffer
-- 
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/1632/

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