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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: On list now
From:       Benoit Walter <b.walter () free ! fr>
Date:       2003-09-27 10:42:49
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On Friday 26 September 2003 21:11, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> overall, this design has 6 sub-dialog launching buttons with three
> different semantics (Configure, Advanced, Edit) ... 	all to avoid a tab
> widget in a situation that is the poster child for why tab widgets were
> invented.
>
> i suppose i'm simply not in the "tabs are the ultimate evil" school of
> thought. i subscribe more to the "tabs are the purgatory of components that
> have too many options" school of thought. *shrug*


I agree that sub-dialogs are generally "evil", but there are some cases where 
we can hardly avoid them. The current "Edit..." buttons are a good example, 
very few users use them, they makes it possible to keep the main dialog 
clean, and in case you need them, you know what you get when you press the 
button.

The main difference between the "sub-dialogs" solution and the "tabs" solution 
is that with the first one, you still have all important settings in ONE 
page. With tabs, you have first to choose in which category the settings 
belong to (general, "file" icons or device icons). That makes it really 
difficult to find the options you are looking for. And it adds another level 
in the hierarchy.

The sub-dialogs are really evil when the kind of options you get in the 
subdialog is "unexpectable", that's mostly the case when using an "advanced" 
subdialog (for example in Appearance/Panel). This one is really evil.

In the design I propose, there are perhaps 6 subdialogs, but there would be 
still 4 ones with the tab solution, and 3 tabs... Not really better and 2 
third of the options are hidden when you open the dialogs.
The sub-dialogs I have added (Configure previews and device icons) are not 
that evil because they are related to a checkbox and it is really easy to 
know what they are used for. You just choose if you enable icons previews (or 
device icons), and if you really want to choose which ones, then you use the 
sub-dialog.
That's why I think the number of sub-dialogs (if kept sensible) is not the 
biggest problem, providing that it is easy to guess what kind of options it 
contains and if the subdialog is kept small. Several small subdialogs are 
sometimes much better than a big one that is called "Advanced...".

Anyway, as you said, it still depends on the school you belongs to :-) My 
opinion is that tabs are sometimes very useful but can be avoided in this 
dialog (don't forget that it is also in the "Configure Desktop..." panel).

Cheers,
Benoit.
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