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

List:       kde-usability
Subject:    KDE Help Center
From:       Troels Tolstrup <troels () tolstrup ! org>
Date:       2003-09-04 2:16:03
[Download RAW message or body]

I have been playing around a little with the KDE Help Center, and there are 
some things that bugs me about it.

First of all, it seems to be a unique application, i can't seem to start 
more than one at a time. I kinda hope this is a bug, since i don't think it 
is unreasonable to expect to be able to have multiple manuals open at the 
same time. And what is worst, after opening it once, it seems to just 
ignore clicks on the handbook items in the various help menus, without 
giving any feedback what so ever. I have not actually posted a bug report, 
as i don't know how many of these things are bugs. (i am hoping all the 
issues are bugs)

Second. I think its contents pane is a bit odd. It works like a tree list, 
like the control center, but unlike the control center, the toplevel items 
does not have the expand/collapse box in front of them. I think this is 
rather unfortunate as it looks like a plain list at first, and people might 
be surprised when it suddenly expands.

A second issue is that, when double click is enabled, you have to double 
click on an item to activate it, which i am fairly sure must be a bug, 
considering kcontrol used to have this behavior as well, but it was fixed. 
I have attached what i think is the correct fix, it at least works for me. 
(If it is correct, then please commit it, i do not have CVS access)

Finally i have a more serious problem with the content pane. In the scenario 
where i click help -> X Handbook in an application, the help center opens 
up application X's handbook. What is a bit surprising is that i get its 
table of contents twice. It is the first part of the actual handbook, and 
it appears in the contents pane. The contents pane also contains all the 
stuff it normally contains as soon as you open the kde help center from the 
kmenu. I find this is rather like having to borrow the entire library, when 
i really just wanted one specific book.

 What i would like to see happen is:

* When KDE Help Center is opened to display a manual it opens up without the 
content pane, showing only the actual help

OR

* When KDE Help Center is opened to display a manual it only shows that 
manuals TOC in its contents pane, the rest are hidden. It should also 
remove the TOC from the actual document as it doesn't make much sense to 
display it twice.

#1 Pros:
   * It makes the window smaller
   * it acts like kcontrol, as it doesn't show the entire thing when ask for 
instance ask for konquerors settings dialog
   * it doesn't make users have to use a tree list.
#1 Cons:
   * It hides the Glossary panel, though i would much rather see words with 
a glossary turn into links than to have that panel :)

#2 Pros:
   * The TOC is always visible, no matter what page you are on.
   * It can still have the glossary panel
#2 Cons:
   * It makes people have to use a tree list

I personally prefer #1 as it, in my oppinion, is nice and simple, and makes 
the window as small as possible, which i think is important as IMO it is 
nice to be able to see the document and the application at the same time.

Comments? Ideas?

Mvh
Troels
_______________________________________________
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]