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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE 4.2 Toolbars
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2008-11-20 9:53:57
Message-ID: 492533B5.9000801 () acm ! org
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Anne Wilson wrote:
> On Monday 17 November 2008 04:44:21 James Richard Tyrer wrote:
>> I will simply state my opinion which is that I think that icons 
>> only are preferable as long as we have the tooltips to remind users
>>  what they are for.  I see this as a learning process with the 
>> tooltips as a learning aid.  It is best to design an interface so 
>> that it has a learning curve -- so it becomes easier and faster to 
>> use with learning.  This has always been a major criticism of the 
>> Mac interface -- that it doesn't work this way; making an interface
>>  the easiest for newbies is not always the best design.  With a lot
>>  of icons and icons only on the toolbars, you learn where they are 
>> and will access them quickly.
> 
> Logically, I agree.  Practically, sorry but I have to disagree.  My 
> experience of MLs over the last 6 months show me just how resistant 
> to change people are. From what I've seen people will walk away 
> rather than change their fixed ideas.
> 
> It's a sad state of affairs, but true.  What shocked me even more is 
> that the attitude is not confined to the over-70s - in fact the 
> majority of whiners I've seen have been from much younger age-groups,
>  so it's not a declining problem.

This should not be surprising.  It is called proactive inhibition.
Previous learning can interfere with new learning of similar things.  It
is hard to make changes.  I use "Find" a lot so I added it to the main
toolbar -- still have to correct the habit of using the menu for it. 
But, that is the advantage of learning the interface -- you don't even 
have to think about it.  If you have typed a long time, you don't think 
about what you are doing -- you think and words appear on the screen.

I started using menus with DOS before I had a mouse so I found it hard
to use a mouse when I first got one.  I still find it hard to use the
KDE menus with the keyboard because I have to hold down the <Alt> key.
It is awkward compared with hitting the "/".  An <Alt> dead key would help.

> Since I presume that any decision will also relate to KDE on Windows,
>  that is even more likely to be the situation.
> 
In KDE-3, when you first started the desktop (the first time) you had a
choice of Windows, Mac, or Unix style GUI.  Perhaps that would be the
place to choose.  But it still doesn't address the question of more
toolbar icons -- these are just file, so they could be moved.  For
example: on KPDF (KDE3) I have a lot of buttons [attached].  I use all
of these and having the farther apart due to having text under them
would really be a negative especially the navigation arrows.  Some of
these which you have to go to the menu for with  the default setup are
used often and this is also a negative.  Would these all fit with text
under them?  I tried it; Even with the narrow font, they don't fit.

-- 
JRT


["screenshot007a.png" (image/png)]

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