[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Recents apps in KDE menu confusing for users.
From:       Charles de Miramon <cmiramon () kde-france ! org>
Date:       2003-08-10 16:46:13
[Download RAW message or body]

Le Dimanche 10 Août 2003 15:46, Waldo Bastian a écrit :

I think your solution is more a temporary one than a definitive one, it would 
be much better to have the information on a vertical colored label on the 
left of the tree. It would add a level to the tree of the KMenu but with what 
the usability experts call a 'fish-eye' effect. I'm learning their jargon ;-) 
The fish-eye effect is very fashionable with usability people, but  I don't 
know if it is technically feasible in QT/KDE. 

I've found this interesting usability study on the Net about experiments how 
fast people find a node in a tree depending of the shape and the depth of the 
tree.
http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/42/hypertext.htm 
The result is that people are not like computers and don't like well-balanced 
trees but navigate faster in flatter (2 or 3 levels) trees even if it means 
having more nodes at each level.

The conclusion is that the KMenu is well designed, better than for example the 
Windows 98 menu which has more levels of depth (4) and is therefore slower to 
navigate.

Nevertheless, my belief is that the maximum number of nodes people are 
confortable at a level of a tree should mimick the habit of reading in 
Western culture. A nicely typed in-8° book (not a cheap and crammed pocket 
book) has more or less 30 lines per page. The first level of the KMenu 
shouldn't grow more than 30 lines. With your addition the KMenu has 31 lines. 
If you add special lines for distribution (like the Mandrake's one) plus the 
Task-Oriented Menu that lays in Aaron's fertile mind, we will climb easily to 
40 lines and have a mess, specially on smaller screens.

As a rule of thumb, I would like to plead to keep a KMenu (at least in the 
standard configuration) with a maximum of 3 levels of depth and a maximum of 
30 lines on the first level. 

Cheers,
Charles
-- 
cmiramon@kde-france.org
http://www.kde-france.org

_______________________________________________
kde-usability mailing list
kde-usability@mail.kde.org
http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]