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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    [RFC] Clock Defaults
From:       Ryan Cumming <ryan () completely ! kicks-ass ! org>
Date:       2002-08-21 10:41:27
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Hi,

Sparked by Matt's comments on the Kicker clock applet, I've decided to write 
down my thoughts on the subject.

Firstly, I think that the blinking colon should be disabled by default, for 
two reasons: 
1) It's useless visual noise; it distracts the user without providing any 
additional information. Using a computer is hard enough as it is.
2) Some system tray applications use a blinking icon to alert the user. The 
blinking colon interferes with the user's ability to determine if a nearby 
system tray icon is blinking without refocusing their attention to the system 
tray. When I used Licq regularly, I found that my ability to recognise its 
blinking message icon out of the corner of my eye was almost completely 
destroyed by the clock applet's blinking colon.

Now, for the plain clock versus digital clock debate. I don't think the 
digital clock has particularly bad usability. My reasoning is that LCD-style 
numbers are very common in modern society, and strongly associated with 
timekeeping. There are, however, a few arguments that could be made for the 
plain clock:
1) It looks much cleaner. I'll agree with this wholeheartedly; I personally 
use a plain clock for this reason alone.
2) It automatically follows the users colour scheme. This is another strong 
argument, although I have never seen the digital clock conflict strongly with 
a particular colour scheme.
3) The LCD clock metaphor isn't as universal as I think; some people/cultures 
are not very good at reading LCD digits, and do not associate LCD digits with 
timekeeping. You could probably get me to agree with this one too; however, I 
can't think of a society that has computers but no digital watches.

One problem I could see with the plain clock is that the user might not 
immediately associate the numbers he sees on the panel with the current time. 
The digital clock does one thing very well: it associates itself with the 
time using a physical metaphor. Could a user really be confused by the plain 
clock, even for an instant?

-Ryan

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