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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Show/Hide vs Checkbox
From:       Wilco Greven <greven () kde ! org>
Date:       2005-03-30 17:31:05
Message-ID: 200503301931.05821.greven () kde ! org
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Hello,

Op woensdag 30 maart 2005 2:18, schreef Tim Hutt:
> Hi,
>
> Just a quick note to say that using menu items that change from (for
> example) 'Show Offline Users' to 'Hide Offline Users' is a poor design.
>
> Changing the text requires that you actually *read* the menu each and every
> time you use it. This is obviously bad. Most people navigate gui's
> primarily by position. This is why they top left menu is always 'File' (or
> similar) and contains 'New', 'Open', 'Save' in that order. And
> 'Exit'/'Close' at the bottom. It helps to know where things are.
>
> Now obviously the menu items don't change place, but it is much much easier
> to find a constant text and see if the checkbox next to it is checked than
> it is to read the first word (and Show and Hide look quite similar).

That's your opinion. I find the current way where the menu action says what's
going to happen easier.

> Grrrr!
>
> Bad examples of this are: Kopete->Settings->First 5 options
> And: Juk->View->First 3 options.
>
> Anyway, enough of the rant. I should probably file specific bug reports
> with patches if I want anything to happen about this 

This topic has been discussed already, see 
http://lists.kde.org/?t=108486483300003&r=2&w=2. Before filing any bugs I 
suggest that you read the discussion so that you understand why this was 
changed.

Two reasons against having toggle menu items which came out of that
discussion are:
- When an item is not checked, nothing indicates that it can be checked.
- When the action has an icon in the difference between checked and unchecked 
is virtually invisible.

Other people came up with the same argument as you *for* keeping toggle menu 
items.

My opinion is that the current way of showing a toggle action is the best as 
long as the two problems above exist.

Wilco
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