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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE screen resolution policy
From:       Luciano Montanaro <mikelima () virgilio ! it>
Date:       2003-12-26 10:34:34
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On Friday 26 December 2003 08:09, Casey Allen Shobe wrote:

> 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 800x600 is a good compromise. Maybe it should really be a little 
bit smaller, to accomodate kicker and some border. Maybe it should be 
qualified a bit, like: it should run in 800x600 using Lucida8 as the font,  
"b3" as the widget style and no icons on the buttons...
I chose b3 as a style that does not waste too much space, other styles could 
be better.
Or maybe we could use more abstract sizes, like "ems" or characters. 
This would mean for example, being able to specify that dialogs lines should 
require more than 70 characters wide or more than 25 character tall, but 
could use more space if available.

In any case, you can use your full resolution. the main windows will work 
well, the text fields and list boxes can scale to fit the higher resolution,
and there aren't too many options in each dialog, which seem to scare newbies.

>
> 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.

No, this is not a solution. It's like looking at a screen through a keyhole, 
you can do it for a while, but it is not usable for a long time.

>
> 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,

-- 
Luciano Montanaro //
                \X/ mikelima@virgilio.it
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