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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE screen resolution policy
From:       Casey Allen Shobe <cshobe () softhome ! net>
Date:       2003-12-26 7:09:17
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I believe the threshhold is already 800x600.  This is what I was told when 
working on UI, and followed (though it was not easy).  Of course some people 
do run at that low of resolution, but they are rare, and would be much better 
off investing in a larger monitor and running a slightly higher resolution.  
And we can't forget laptops, even some which feature half-height screens 
making things even more difficult.

But the smaller you make windows to suit a low-resolution user, the worse you 
make usability for the high-resolution user.  I run my desktop at 2048x1536, 
and it infuriates me when I have to use some tiny configuration dialog with 8 
tabs in each of 5 panes, with only about 4 checkboxes each; or have 5 
different small windows instead of one larger one.  A bit of an 
overstatement, but you get the point.

I think the best solution already exists.  X11 features two resolution 
settings, one for your screen resolution, and one for your desktop 
resolution.  So if you're stuck on a low-resolution screen, there is nothing 
preventing you from running a desktop as large as you want.  Got a laptop 
with an 800x300 screen?  No problem.  You can still run a 1024x768 desktop.

Otherwise, the KDE dialogs need to be smart and automatically split things 
logically into tabs or merge the tabs into fewer tabs or no tabs based upon 
the window size.  I'd like to see that worked on towards KDE 4, because it 
would improve usability on my large display as well as smaller displays.

Vertu sæll,

-- 
Sigþór Björn Jarðarson (Casey Allen Shobe)
cshobe@softhome.net / http://rivyn.livejournal.com
Jabber: sigthor@jabber.org; ICQ: 1494523; AIM/Yahoo: SomeLinuxGuy

Free development contributor of:
> KDE toolbar icons
> Kopete user interface, usability, and testing
> X11 Icelandic Dvorak keymaps
> Reporting of over 100 Kopete bugs
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