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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Improvements to menubar
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () mikka ! net ! au>
Date:       2000-04-29 16:08:26
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Whether or not the top of screen mode is made the default for KDE, the
menubar needs a few improvements made.

The first is that, as it stands, the KDE menubar isn't quite obvious
enough at the top of the screen. On MacOS, the menubar is always a
nice bright white, and even so, beginners who are used to Windows
don't always notice it. Under KDE, we can't use colour to cue the user
because the colour of the menubar is set according to the current
theme. But we can make it more obvious by making it slightly bigger.
Not too much more - just three or four pixels taller.

Secondly, I'd suggest that the font used by menus needs to be bolder.
It would be nice if the menu font was under user control, rather than
just to use the catch-all category "General font" under the Display
Settings.

Thirdly, it would be nice if the K icon was more colourful. As it
stands now, its very plain and boring, more suitable to a black and
white display than to colour. This would also help make the menubar
more obvious to beginners. Any artists out there got a suggestion for
a colourful K?

My next point will seem a little strange at first sight, because
according to Fitts Law the K menu has effectively infinite area. But I
believe the K icon needs to be moved in slightly away from the edge of
the screen, so that the active area is larger (larger than infinity?
:-). By this I mean the *visible* active area (the bit with the box
around it) is a little larger. Of course, this active area will still
extend to the very edge of the screen so as to take advantage of Fitts
Law.

As it stands now, the K menu is too close to the edge. It looks like
just a bit of meaningless decoration, and its not obvious that its a
useful menu. I've been using KDE almost exclusively for the last few
weeks, and I've only just noticed it a few days ago. Sad but true. By
moving it slightly away from the edge, and getting rid of the box
around it, it will match more with the rest of the menus and look less
like a decoration.

Lastly, the K menu doesn't behave like the rest of the menus in the
menubar. When the user mouses down over the K, a menu drops down. But
if the user drags the mouse away, onto the other menu titles, the K
menu remains. And visa versa: when the user mouses down over another
menu title, moving the mouse over a different title displays the
appropriate menu. But not the K. It stubbornly refuses to drop down
unless the user clicks on it, and once dropped down, it refuses to let
other menus drop down. 

A mockup showing my proposed changes is attached (png format).

I believe these changes are worthwhile regardless of whether top of
screen menus are made the default or not, and even for Windows-style
menubars.


-- 
Steven D'Aprano
["menubar.png" (image/png)]

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