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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    [KDE Usability] Re: A couple of HIG questions regarding KDE
From:       Aurélien Gâteau <agateau () kde ! org>
Date:       2011-05-07 8:22:39
Message-ID: 4DC5014F.8060905 () kde ! org
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On 03/05/2011 22:41, Rohan Garg wrote:
> Now, the main issue i am facing is that after i remove the radio
> buttons ( which in my opinion make the UI look cluttered ), how do i
> represent to the user that his current IM Status is, say Online? We
> discussed a couple of scenarios on IRC, like making the current status
> as Bold/Italics, or using a tick mark next to the current status,
> using a different highlight color etc but none of the ideas were
> satisfactory and had one issue or the other.

Hi Rohan,

Using radio buttons feels like the natural way to do this, but I agree
it looks cluttered here. Maybe that is something which can be fixed in
the Oxygen theme instead (Nuno, are you around?)

If you want to get rid of those radio buttons, I would personally go for
using a bold font, the other options are not good because:
- Italics can be hard to read
- A tick mark would break the vertical alignment of the status (although
a mockup of that would help to make a more informed opinion)
- A different highlight color is very hard to get right on all possible
color schemes.

Two not-completely-related suggestions:

1. Right now the "Set message..." entry looks a bit like a header for
the different status. I think it should be either moved back to the
bottom of the menu, or a separator should be inserted below it.

2. Grouping related status would improve readability IMO. Something like
this:

[@] rohan16g...mail.com
[/Set message.../     ]
-----------------------
( ) Available
( ) Be right back
-----------------------
( ) Busy
( ) Do not disturb
( ) Away
-----------------------
( ) Extended Away
( ) Invisible
( ) Offline

Note that I reordered statuses a bit: I may be wrong, but I feel "Be
right back" is closer to "Available" than "Away", and "Away" is closer
to "Offline" than "Busy" and "Do not disturb". Icons should probably be
adjusted as well, but I guess the Oxygen icons would need to be renamed.

(I also think there are too many possible statuses, but that's probably
enough for now)

Aurélien
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