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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: The new KFileDialog
From:       Andras Mantia <amantia () kde ! org>
Date:       2005-02-22 20:15:41
Message-ID: 20050222201427.584556BAE6 () smtp ! zappmobile ! ro
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Aaron Seigo wrote:

> On February 22, 2005 11:49, Andras Mantia wrote:
>>  I'm a little late with this, as I only updated my kdelibs today, but
>> I'm very sad to see that the KFileDialog is not so nice as before. I
>> don't have a problem with using the blue shading instead of the sinked
>> bevel, but I have with the color of the quick-folder (or how it is
>> called) area. With the standard colors it is the same gray (or for my
>> eyes the same) as the dialog frame (Window Background color). But it
>> isn't the Window Background color itself, and I couldn't figure out
>> which color it is.
> 
> yes, it is the window background color.

You mean the speedbar color is also the Window Background color? Just that
it does not change if I change the Window Background. Oh, I see, I have to
reopen the dialog, as if you just change the color, the speedbar color is
not changed.

> that's sort of the issue. it stood out rather glaringly. it's not
> necessary to hit people over the head with sledgehammers, in fact doing so
> makes our gui's appear heavy, busy and "bloated". i hate those terms
> probably as much as you do because we both know it's "just aesthetics",
> but it's how people perceive things.

Yes, this is really just esthetics. :-)

> if we want to actually make this about usability rather than esthetics, we
> need to ask where the eye should be drawn in an interface. with the dark
> colour the speedbar was one of the most dominant aspects of the dialog,
> but the center of attention should be the file listing not the speedbar.

I can say for sure that my eyes are focusing on the ugly speedbar now. The
problems I think are:
- the whole dialog looks un-balanced (too much gray area on the left)
- the frame is hardly visible
- it looks very flat

I tried Kontact, and there the "problem" is not so obvious, maybe because
you have many colorful things on the right. 

> this is double true for kontact and it's sidebar.
> 
> i tried using a white background so it would look like the other editable
> widgets, but that actually made the situation worse.
> 
> let's see what happens when the RC1 is released. 

The problem is that if remains in RC1 it will most probably remain in final
as well, and than in 3.4.x line. The time frame between RC1 and final is
just too small to get real feedback. If it was about Beta2, I would mind to
try out the new look. ;-)

As you see I'm not alone with my opinion, but I know when things came down
to look and feel, you can find supporters easily both for pro and contra.

Andras

PS: can't it be just a little darker? ;-)

-- 
Quanta Plus developer - http://quanta.sourceforge.net
K Desktop Environment - http://www.kde.org

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