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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Observations on the new KWord startup dialog
From:       Thomas Zander <zander () planescape ! com>
Date:       2003-05-27 9:56:26
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On Mon, May 26, 2003 at 10:54:31PM -0600, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Monday 26 May 2003 02:28, Thomas Zander wrote:
> > Then the fact that the 'choose' and the 'open' are both closing the dialog
> > suggests they should be placed on the same level. I.e. next to each other.
> 
> i think the wording is too similar to be next to each other; i'd wager that
> many users would not know which one to click. this means better physical
> seperation, better wording, or both... see attached files...
> 
> > Last; the user might appreciate feedback on his selection; page size and
> > comments come to mind here. (the tooltip idea I mentioned before).
> 
> agreed...
> 
> > Ok, quick scetch attached that might not be the end-all, but should at
> > the very least prove to solve more problems then most ideas I have seen
> > so far.
> 
> i like the direction a lot... below are URLS to  a UI file (so we can play a 
> bit easier ;) and a snapshot that plays on your idea ... (i'm aware of the
> missalignment of the items in the Categories list, that's to circumvent the
> default sorting you get when previewing in designer...)
> 
>   http://urbanlizard.com/~aseigo/snapshot1.png
>    http://urbanlizard.com/~aseigo/koffice_open.ui

You missed some features
- the left and right as rest to resizing policy 'minimum' so the center
takes all available space (the two spacers around the A4 should also be minimum)
- the 'description' label should have <p>'s around the bottom paragraph
- The open button should be right aligned (its a bit too big now)
- you miss the location label (for recent files)
- you miss the intro text
- the listview header(s) should be 'fullwidth'

I don't like the header 'Categories'. First it should be clear without that
header and second it stops me from looking for recent files there.
I think you want a normal list here with icons _above_ the names. Just like the
panels that group config dialogs (the kword config for example)

You made the same mistake using the open/open existing file buttons I posed
in the email you replied to.
The buttons at the bottom 'ok's the dialog above. So if you say the open and
open exising should not be on the same level (I agree to that) then they
should be the other way around; since the 'open existing file' does not ok
the selections above.

> this still leaves the issue of openning an existing file... i can see think of
> two decent solutions (which probalby means there are at least 5 ;) :
> 
>  a) when the Open Existing File button is clicked the three panes are replaced
> by an embedded KFD
> 
>  b) when the Open Existing File button is clicked the current dialog
> disappears and is replaced with a stand alone KFD. this would leave us with
> the quandry of what to do if the user presses Cancel in the KFD (probably
> just treat it as if they pressed Cancel in the koffice open dialog, but
> another possibility is to go back to the koffice dialog first...)

c) use two tabs (just don't put the buttons outside the tabs)

> and just to be a broken record, this should be embedded right IN the
> kword/kspread/kpresenter/etc window and NOT a stand-alone modal dialog.

Maybe that last point is the real solution; just show the template chooser
in the main window and have a button on top to open an existing file using
an external KFD.
This steps around a whole lot of problems...

I don't have much time for KDE hacking at work; so just a quick email and I'll
take a longer look tonight.

-- 
Thomas Zander

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