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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Filter Bar on Bottom?
From:       Sébastien_Laoût <slaout () linux62 ! org>
Date:       2006-05-13 19:03:09
Message-ID: 200605132103.10471.slaout () linux62 ! org
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Hello,

I'm the developer of BasKet Note Pads. Since it is not a KDE member 
application, I don't know if you can discuss such concerns. If not, can you 
redirect me?

For the next version I plan to make rich text notes the default (instead of 
plain text). And it comes with a toolbar to format that rich text.

The interface will then begin to be cluttered.
Especially in combination with the always shown filter bar, just below the 
format toolbar.

So I would want to put the filter bar on the bottom of the window and hide the 
statusbar, that is only used to show non-interesting numbers (unless for 
debugging, but well... it should not be the purpose of any GUI item ;-) ).

    See screenshots/mockups here:
    http://basket.kde.org/bnp060b2/index.html

I have two questions:

1/ Is it OK to move the filter bar on the bottom by default?

While visually more appealing I think people will have harder time to find it 
when needed.
Nearly every other KDE application have the filterbar on top, so when a user 
want to filter, she look at the top.
I think it was a criticism made to Firefox (or at least that it *appeared* on 
bottom of the window).

2/ Can I hide the statusbar by default?

I don't find it very interesting, so why having a thing that only a very small 
amount of people will use...
The left part of the statusbar displays nothing.
Well, in the screenshots, the left part displays a tip, but since I'm changing 
the behaviour of the application, that tip will be useless and removed. So 
this zone will remain blank.
And the right part show only statistics numbers that only me, the designer, 
care about :-)
There is still the resizer thing... Help people to resize the window without 
having to target a 3x3 pixels zone.
Nearly every application have a statusbar, so if I hide it, BasKet Note Pads 
would not be very consistent with other KDE apps.
Is the new HIG saying something about when to add a status bar and when not?

From a visual aspect, I would put the filter bar on bottom and hide the 
statusbar by default.

But what about usability and consistency issues that raise?
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