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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Improvements to menubar
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () mikka ! net ! au>
Date:       2000-04-30 13:56:07
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Dave Leigh wrote:
> 
> As for sensible objections, the first I can think of is that most of your
> suggestions are configurable already, such as the font and using a different
> K menu icon.  Personally, I like subdued widgets, because I want to
> concentrate on the task, not on overtly gaudy colorful, flashing, sparkling,
> or animated widgets.

Not in KDE 1, which I'm using. Thanks to Kurt for giving me a clue and
advising me that he's been talking about KDE 2, which makes everything
I've been saying in need of revision.

> Secondly, by moving the icon away from the screen you're visually divorcing
> it from the corner of the screen.  New users, especially, will attempt to hit
> the target with the mouse, and that means they will slow down at the corner
> whether they need to or not, effectively undermining the benefits of Fitts'
> Observation.

This is an excellent point. But I didn't move the icon very far away
from the corner, just a smidgeon. And if the icon behaves like a
regular menu, and is highlighted with a bounding box around it when
the mouse enters the active area, users will quickly learn they can
click anywhere in that active area, not just precisely on the icon.

But according to Kurt, the K menu is dropped from KDE 2, so the point
is moot.

> As for the K menu behaving differently, I believe you'll find it's not
> behaving differently; it's a different menu.  It's separated by the vertical
> bar that you've erased in your second illustration.  You'll notice that hold
> and drag and "open menu follows mouse" doesn't work outside the menubar you
> opened.

Yes, which was my point. It shouldn't be a seperate widget. Regardless
of the internal representation or the technical implementation, to the
user the K menu was part of the same menubar as the regular menus, and
so should have worked the same way. But its gone now.


-- 
Steven D'Aprano

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