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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Instant apply and explicit apply in KDE HIG
From:       Scott Wheeler <wheeler () kde ! org>
Date:       2006-03-07 0:43:26
Message-ID: 200603070143.26840.wheeler () kde ! org
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On Monday 06 March 2006 19:53, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Sunday 05 March 2006 19:08, Scott Wheeler wrote:
> > widget (and I'm terrible at being creative on such things), but
> > potentially some different sort of frame or grouping box that's visually
> > distinctive.
>
> and then the user has to differentiate between these states... most people
> just aren't that sophisticated. many people double click *everything* "just
> because", and not just newer users either. it's a problem of people not
> picking up on these things in the first place and most people being very
> bad at paying attention to details =(

I'll buy that.  Somewhat tangential -- there are obviously certain interface 
subtleties that users manage to grasp with relative ease and others that are 
often lost on users; does anyone know of any literature studying how and when 
such things are acquired?

> a different type of window altogether (e.g. docker vs dialog) is probably
> obvious enough, but it really needs to be that much of a "smack you in the
> face" sort of thing.

Just tried it on Mac and there are a couple of things that are noteworthy 
there that do more or less what you said:

- For settings that require confirmation they're always in a separate pop-up 
dialog with a [Configure Blah...] in the main settings window and an [Ok] 
[Cancel] in the pop-up.

- For settings that do not have immediate interface feedback there's almost 
always a preview pane inside of the settings dialog or some sort of mock-up 
of the larger interface that shows how the effect will work

That's certainly not the only way to get things done, but it seems to at least 
be one effective way of mixing metaphores. 

I'm having trouble visualizing "dockers" in that they would require somewhat 
cumbersome placement inside of usual widget organization.  As part of the 
main interface (i.e. additional toolbars) I can visualize it, but in a normal 
settings dialog I'm kind of at a loss.

-Scott

-- 
It may be true that you can't fool all the people all the time, but you can 
fool enough of them to rule a large country. 
--Will Durant
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