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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: The art of not offering customization
From:       "Gordon Tyler" <gordon () doxxx ! net>
Date:       2002-05-30 15:53:28
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo@olympusproject.org>


> as an aside, i would love to look at alternative methods for indexing the
> modules while we're at it ... the tree view sucks. and i hate how windows
> does it, as well..
>
> after we're done there should be far fewer kcms (i mean, why are there *5*
> kcms for power management?! there really should only be one) which should
> give us quite a bit more choice as far as how to represent the available
> options...

Allow me to restate my earlier suggestion:

Would it be better to use a Windows Control Panel-like layout of only
icons/names and have dialogs popup as they do when you select them from the
K->Preferences menu? I personally think it's ugly to put what is really a
dialog into a main frame as if it were a document. My experience with other
UIs like this (Oracle administration, WebSphere administration) has been
rather painful.

I also quite like the way the MacOSX System Preferences window looks with
categories of icons separated into horizontal groups and the ability to drag
commonly used icons to the toolbar. Once you select an icon, the window
changes to the "dialog" for the selected icon. While this is similar to the
way KCC does it, somehow it doesn't feel as bad, maybe because it replaces
the icon view entirely. It has a toolbar at the top with a button to display
the icons again and a section for the user to add commonly used icons.

This may be related to muscle memory since I have to open the Look 'n Feel
tree before seeing the icons, scan them, try a few and then I realise that I
actually wanted the Peripherals, Mouse section and have to scroll down the
treeview and open Peripherals before I can see and choose Mouse. If they're
laid out all at once like MacOSX's are, it's far easier to remember where
the icons are AND you can see them all and you don't have to "hunt" to
discover potentially more options that may be what you're looking for.

Ciao,
Gordon


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