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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Problems with "Tip of the Day" dialogs
From:       Aaron Seigo <aseigo () kde ! org>
Date:       2004-09-15 18:24:04
Message-ID: 200409151224.04672.aseigo () kde ! org
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On September 15, 2004 11:46, Sébastien Laoût [temporar] wrote:
> My proposal is to do not show the dialog by default.

in which case we may as well save ourselves the effort and not include them at 
all.

let's look at the problems with the current scheme, all of which you touched 
on, but let me summarize:

 0. they are intrusive as they block the interface
 1. they are not helpful as the text included is inapropriate to the context

one solution for P(0) is to make the dialog a passive popup or perhaps use an 
in-window passive "dialog sheet" like kmail can do for connection status

one solution for P(1) is to actually ORDER the entries so that they progress 
from elementary concepts to advanced concepts and form a progressively 
revealing story. perhaps the first tip should _always_ be a "this is what 
this program does" message.

another possible solution is to tap into this body of knowledge and provide 
tips throughout the usage-span of the application by tieing the tips to 
specific actions in the program. this is like Microsoft's little assistant 
thingies in MS Office (and, progressively, elsewhere). these have received a 
bad rap largely because they use stupid comic characters, take a lot of 
screen real estate and try to interact with the user rather than simply share 
useful bits of information. we don't need to do any of those things, though.

so i think it can be fixed systemically rather than taken out back to be shot.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
Society is Geometric
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