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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Docking toolbars to the MacOS style menubar?
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2003-04-15 21:13:07
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On Tuesday 15 April 2003 12:49, William Leese wrote:
> I really think this is something that should be default because the initial
> loss is small compared to the gain. If someone feels responsible for KDE's
> usability then please comment. Can we get some kind of decision on this?

questions to be answered, along with answers based on the KDE install i have 
here (GM =  global menubar):

Q: When using non-KDE applications, what does the GM do?
A: shows a blank area (background shows through)

Q: When using a KDE application w/no menubar, what does the GM do?
A: shows a blank area (background shows through)

Q: How does the GM interact with the panel being at the top?
A: not very well w/autohiding. of course, that isn't a default set up. it does 
make achieving such a (more common than rare) set up more difficult as you 
then need to turn off the desktop menubar

Q: How useful is the GM outside of just being a place for the menu bar?
A: not very

so i'd suggest that this part of KDE would need work to be more kicker 
friendly and more useful before being made a default. someone has written a 
kicker plugin that provides a GM within a kicker panel. i was sceptical at 
first, but after seeing it in action i think it's a good alternative that 
addresses most, though not all, of the above (i don't have it anymore.. need 
to find it again.. *sigh*)

this would mean altering KDE's default kick setup to have a child panel at the 
top of the screen. this wouldn't be all bad IMO, as we could put a clock up 
there, etc..

however, we'd still be left with inconsistencies with non-KDE apps that don't 
cooperate. =/ consistent mediocrity is, IMHO, better than inconsistently 
getting it right. of course, that assumes we care about non-KDE apps, which i 
think we should given current common usage patterns ...

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

KDE: The 'K' is for 'kick ass'
http://www.kde.org       http://promo.kde.org/3.1/feature_guide.php
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