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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: RFC: Usability Project Roadmap for 3.2
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-08-05 19:55:11
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On Monday 05 August 2002 01:31, wvl wrote:
> I've played a bit with the idea of having colored menu's, with and without
> titles for each section. I wasn't able to create anything to my liking
> though.

i personally don't think it is either the colouring or the titles: it's the 
fact that the title widget in KPopupMenu is, to be frank, butt-ugly. it 
doesn't follow the widget style used and it is rather boxy/chunky. a 
replacement for the actual look of the title item is probably all that is 
needed.

> I can't quite agree with placing these section seperators with title and
> all in the K menu; its too cluttered.

it's called "grouping". group boxes, tab widgets, seperate toolbars, etc are 
all used for similar reasons. the challenge is that as a single "lumped 
together" menu the user has no hint as to what belongs to what and are faced 
with handling the menu as a "whole item". and separators are not enough, 
since they are meant to "quietly" separate items in the same grouping. this 
lack of inherent and obvious grouping is one of the primary problems with the 
KMenu as it is: it's just one huge menu with several different types of items 
lumped together.

they actually reduce perceived clutter by creating easily definable groupings 
within the menu.

> Also, you're left with 'blank spots'
> (places where you can't click) in a menu..

and? there is inactive "white space" all throughout the desktop. 

> Anyhow, if no better solution is found I suggest making the seperators the
> same color as the title bars found on context menu's on the toolbars
> (judging by the screenshot, this was the intention).

you mean grey? no, this wasn't the intention at all. yes, they use the same 
widget to draw the "shape"(which sucks) but grey looks really, really bad, 
esp with the variety of colour schemes people use.

you do realize that they follow your colour scheme, right?

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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