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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Show/Hide vs Checkbox
From:       Luciano Montanaro <mikelima () cirulla ! net>
Date:       2005-03-31 8:05:24
Message-ID: 200503311005.24544.mikelima () cirulla ! net
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El Miércoles 30 Marzo 2005 19:55, Aaron Seigo escribió:
> On March 30, 2005 17:25, Thomas Zander wrote:
> > I personally think the opposite; people read the menus anyway (how
> > would you otherwise claim they hit the right entry?)
>
> exactly. so with the toggle option the way to deduce the status of what
> would happen is this:
>
> 	scan until you find the correct entry
> 	examine its toggled status
> 	reverse that in your mind to know what will happen
>
> with the current way its:
>
> 	scan until you find the correct entry
>
> far fewer mental gymnastics.
>
> position isn't affected (the entry is always in the same place in the
> menu), neither is the icon or keyboard shortcut. so all "instant
> recognition" learnable features remain.

Thanks for your anser, at least now I know what is the reasoning behind the 
change. However, I'm not sure I agree. For my example, 

"View" -> "Show Details" -> Show(Hide) Size / Show(Hide) MIME Type ...

It's harder to see, at a glance, which detail is enabled and whic is not.
So, while with the checkboxes I have to look only at the category I'm 
interested in...

I have no "muscle memory" for the options, as I don't use them all that 
much. But when I need them, I need to scan all the list, instead of the few 
I'm interested in.

Moreover, the menu is not entirely consistent:
The main entry is "Show Details", while the subitems are a mix of 
show/hide...

You say menu entries should be actions, so simply "Details" is out of the 
question.

Maybe both methods have their merits, but is the "Long" version so much 
better? Even considering the additional translation work it needs? 

Other people mention another problem with toggle menu items, which I think 
is actually bad: 
toggle items aren't recognizable when they are not enabled.

Luciano

-- 
Luciano Montanaro       //
                    \\ //
                     \x/Un euro, un voto!
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