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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: DialogBoxes (was: Cookie window popup)
From:       "Steven D'Aprano" <dippy () mikka ! net ! au>
Date:       2000-09-10 17:19:34
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Sean Pecor wrote:
> 
> I'm jumping in late, and may be echoing someone else's suggestion, but why
> not try using transparencies to allow blocking but to allow a convenient way
> to access information underneath? For example: A dialog box for AppA pops up
> over AppA's window, with the mouse cursor appearing within the dialog's
> interior.

Are you talking about moving the mouse position? This is a bad thing,
with a capital B. The mouse moves under the user's control, always, no
ifs buts or maybes. Believe me, I've used software that moved the mouse
around on its own, and it is incredibly frustrating, even when you are
expecting it.

(I will make one exemption to this rule: practical joke programs. But
their only purpose is to annoy, which is why they are allowed to do
things which users otherwise hate.)

The mouse is an extention of the user in a way that the keyboard is not.
When the computer moves the mouse, it is almost like you have shoved the
user's hand to a different part of the desk.

I am aware that the Move command located under the Menu button in a
window's titlebar causes the mouse to move to the titlebar. This is Bad
too.

Center the dialog on the screen, or move it to the mouse, not the mouse
to the dialog.

> Besides, I prefer full screen windows over cascading and I would wager that
> over half of emerging computer users prefer full screen windows too. In fact,
> I have yet to see a non-programmer working in anything OTHER than full screen
> mode.

I'm a non-programmer and I *hate* full screen mode. Passionately.

In my opinion, the only reason many users work in full-screen mode is
because MS Office apps default to full-screen mode, and they don't know
how to get out of it. So they think that's the only way the programs
work.


-- 
Steven D'Aprano

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