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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: The new tooltips
From:       David Legg <david () actuaria ! co ! uk>
Date:       2005-01-15 15:44:22
Message-ID: 200501151544.23253.david () actuaria ! co ! uk
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On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:55:06, Jason Keirstead wrote:
> I would direct you to this comment above, since I think he put it the best
> I could ever put it:
>
> ---
>
> I read that basically this is the replacement for icon-zooming, yet i think
> unlike icon-zooming (I'm not fan of that either, but it has a purpose)
> these 'tooltips' actually distract from the icon itself.
>
> From what I read the purpose beneath providng further information á la
> "what's this?" (very good at first but unnecessary after two or three
> times) is to give the user feedback on which icon the mouse currently is
> (just like icon-zooming) but as I've said this effect actually distracts
> from the icon/mouse-cursor itself and thus slows the user-experience down
> by distracting the user from their task instead of helping him in what he's
> currently doing.

I'm afraid that this comment just doesn't mean anything. When you put your 
mouse over an icon you do get feedback about what it is, and much more of an 
indication about to expect than icon zooming. 'Distracting from the icon' 
means absolutely nothing, since if you've got your mouse over an icon you've 
got instant feedback from the 'kicker tooltips' themselves. The icon itself 
is then secondary, so this statement just doesn't add up.

The statement that it slows down the user experience is just that - a 
statement. The task that a user wants to perform if they have their mouse 
pointer in the kicker is to find out what application they want to run, and 
to get at least some feedback about what these applications are. In no way do 
they 'distract' you from doing anything when you have an application open and 
are performing tasks. I don't know if you've noticed, but these things don't 
arbitrarily pop up when you're doing other things. They would be pretty 
useless otherwise, wouldn't they?

Cheers,

David
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