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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Some thoughts on toolbars in KDE
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2007-11-15 21:56:04
Message-ID: 473CC074.8050800 () acm ! org
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Hans Chen wrote:
> James: So basically you want to add the "zoom in" and "zoom out" buttons 
> to the new widget?
> 
> Let me try to analyze this with my (non-existing) usability knowledge. 
> If we consider different use cases; let's say we have a image viewer 
> with this new widget in the statusbar, and four different persons:
> 
> User A wants to zoom in/out until the image covers the whole page.
> User B is just playing around and zooms in/out until s/he thinks it 
> looks good.
> User C wants to zoom to half the original size, original size, double 
> size etc.
> User D has a predefined % s/he want to zoom, let's say 137 %.
> 
> Now let's take a took at my mockup again (and imagine that the combobox 
> is a normal edible combobox on hover).
> 
> A: Use one of the buttons to the left (these aren't shown in my mockup) 
> or the combobox.
> B: Here a set of zoom in/out buttons would be useful. If you have a 
> mouse with a scroll, you can obtain the same result by scrolling the 
> slider. And if you aren't pedantic you could also drag and/or click on 
> the slider (the former one faster than clicking on the buttons and 
> probably give better results).
> C: These "common" zoom levels are in the combobox (you can use the 
> scroll/keyboard)
> D: Click in the combobox and enter a value.
> 
> Personally I think the slider is superior to zoom in/out buttons. As I 
> wrote above, it does the same if you have a scroll/know that you can use 
> the keyboard - but you can also drag the slide to quickly find a zoom 
> level you like. This would be perfect in use case B.
> 
> Furthermore, I think there are enough widgets in the zoom widget - in my 
> opinion it would look cluttered if we added more.
> 
> If an application really need the "click to zoom in/out", I would 
> suggest a zoom tool in the toolbar which changes the mouse to a 
> magnifier (take a look at kpdf ( KDE3.5.x) for example) and lets you 
> zoom by clicking on the image/whatever it is.

This widget is not actually necessary, but I think that for some uses it 
would be more elegant.  It includes concepts which are already in use, 
it just combines them in a different way.  The buttons at the ends of 
the slider are *only* for precise settings -- useful for those with poor 
eye hand coordination or when it is simply impossible to move the mouse 
such a small amount.

-- 
JRT
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