[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-look
Subject:    RE: kdesktop wait cursor
From:       Stephen Yates <sjy999 () totalise ! co ! uk>
Date:       2001-05-09 19:55:00
[Download RAW message or body]

>===== Original Message From Torsten Rahn <torsten@kde.org> =====
>On Tuesday 08 May 2001 17:33, Stephen Yates wrote:
>
>> How hard
>> would it by to have the app icon spin or bounce while the app is loading?
>> Or if that is too flashy and distracting how about having a small icon such
>
>I think so. It becomes really disturbing after starting a few hundred times
>an application. Some people just want to use their computer and
>to these people such a behaviour would look as strange as the
>Start-button on the washing-machine jumping up and down after pressing it.

The user would be able to turn anything like that off if they didn't want it.  
Personally I think that an animation like that needs to be quite flashy and 
distracting so that it gets noticed by the novice user.  I think that it's a 
better option than a splash screen, as it would provide obvious visual 
feedback without actually stopping the user from using the GUI while that app 
is loading.

>> as an hourglass appear on the app icon to indicate that it's doing
>> something?
>
>That item could vanish or could be hidden depending on the settings.
>You couldn't have an Autohide-panel e.g. without loosing control over
>the startup-indicator.

While the user is clicking on the icon it would obviously be on screen and 
they would be looking at it.  As long as the busy icon appeared almost 
instantly they would see it before the panel could be autohidden.

>One could argue now that one could force an extra icon with a busy-cursor
>shown on this desktop - but this would only provide an additional item on the
>desktop the user has to take care of.  And I don't really see the advantage 
of
>this compared to the common busy-cursor-solution which all other GUIs share.

I dislike busy cursors personally.  They don't provide enough feedback for 
novice users, I have seen some users repeatedly double click even with the 
busy cursor.  Other novice users assume that they can't do anything while the 
hourglass cursor is on screen, it makes it look like the OS can't multitask 
very well.

Also the busy cursor doesn't give more experienced users that much useful 
information about what it going on.  If I quickly double click on 4 app icons 
that I want to load, the busy cursor doesn't tell me if they are all actually 
loading or not.  I have been using a GUI for about 15 years, but I still find 
that I'm sometimes not 100% sure if I have double clicked rather than single 
clicked twice on an app.  If an icon appeared on the apps that I double 
clicked it would confirm that they are all loading.  Maybe it could even have 
a little progress bar or a percentage next to the icon to show roughly how 
long it's going to take to load.

Steve

-----------------------
The Totalise Email system, probably the most flexible email system in the
world. To register for an account goto http://www.totalise.net

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]