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List: kde-multimedia
Subject: Re: [KDE Usability] KMix UI orientation
From: Hans Chen <hanswchen () gmail ! com>
Date: 2012-05-19 10:23:50
Message-ID: CAFfzviBQEkSWWYS=TtAcGRZMO-aDxEQXvEV_qLzLAezQ0FPoNg () mail ! gmail ! com
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I prefer the vertical layout and would like to give some arguments for it,
since I didn't see anyone mentioning them:
- In the horizontal layout, the mute button is on the right side of the
slider. This is a bit counter-intuitive since the slider goes to the left
when muted. Of course the placement of the application icon and mute icon
can be swapped, but this is again a bit strange - the application icon is
what identifies each slider and is also connected to the text.
- I'm not a usability expert, but if I remember correctly, it's easier to
move the mouse cursor up and down than horizontal, especially on touchpads.
This is also why I don't support knobs, doing a circular motion is even
harder.
- I also agree that scrolling up and down is more intuitive in a vertical
layout, as mentioned by others.
With that said, the current tray popup using the vertical layout could
definitely be improved. I expected it to look more like the mixer window,
i.e., vertical layouts in a horizontal layout, if you get what I mean.
Regarding the text label, would it be possible to only show e.g. the
application name (Amarok in this case) and the rest of the text in a
tooltip?
*Conclusion:* I'm against removing the vertical layout for the reasons
mentioned above, but would welcome improvements to it.
Cheers,
Hans
On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 7:09 PM, Eike Hein <hein@kde.org> wrote:
> On 05/17/2012 08:50 PM, Trever Fischer wrote:
>
>> I'm starting to have a look at a lot of the papercuts in kdemultimedia,
>> trying to polish up all the little details that bother me.
>>
>> Here's my first question:
>>
>> Does KMix really need vertical slider orientation?
>>
>
> FWIW, I recently had some involvement with this one ...
>
> - KMix has an option to select the orientation, but the tray popup
> used to ignore this setting; only the main window would follow it.
>
> - The tray popup used to use vertical orientation, and from the above,
> this meant that setting the orientation to horizontal would have no
> effect on the popup.
>
> - One of the early KDE 4.8.x releases introduced a change that made
> the popup use horizontal orientation, again regardless of the
> setting. Immediately we got angry users on #kde who despised this.
>
> - Due to those angry users, I had a look at the code and made the
> popup follow the setting. As a result, due to KMix defaulting to
> vertical orientation, the popup is back to being vertical by de-
> fault in 4.8.3 or so.
>
> Personally, I prefer horizontal orientation, but this is definitely
> a matter of preference and there are vocal users who prefer vertical.
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Eike Hein
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> kde-usability mailing list
> kde-usability@kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/**listinfo/kde-usability<https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability>
>
[Attachment #5 (text/html)]
I prefer the vertical layout and would like to give some arguments for it, since I didn't \
see anyone mentioning them:<br><br>- In the horizontal layout, the mute button is on the right \
side of the slider. This is a bit counter-intuitive since the slider goes to the left when \
muted. Of course the placement of the application icon and mute icon can be swapped, but this \
is again a bit strange - the application icon is what identifies each slider and is also \
connected to the text.<br>
<br>- I'm not a usability expert, but if I remember correctly, it's easier to move the \
mouse cursor up and down than horizontal, especially on touchpads. This is also why I don't \
support knobs, doing a circular motion is even harder.<br>
<br>- I also agree that scrolling up and down is more intuitive in a vertical layout, as \
mentioned by others.<br><br>With that said, the current tray popup using the vertical layout \
could definitely be improved. I expected it to look more like the mixer window, i.e., vertical \
layouts in a horizontal layout, if you get what I mean. Regarding the text label, would it be \
possible to only show e.g. the application name (Amarok in this case) and the rest of the text \
in a tooltip?<br>
<br><b>Conclusion:</b> I'm against removing the vertical layout for the reasons mentioned \
above, but would welcome improvements to it.<br><br>Cheers,<br>Hans<br><br><div \
class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 7:09 PM, Eike Hein <span dir="ltr"><<a \
href="mailto:hein@kde.org" target="_blank">hein@kde.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">On 05/17/2012 08:50 PM, Trever Fischer wrote:<br> \
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc \
solid;padding-left:1ex"> I'm starting to have a look at a lot of the papercuts in \
kdemultimedia,<br> trying to polish up all the little details that bother me.<br>
<br>
Here's my first question:<br>
<br>
Does KMix really need vertical slider orientation?<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
FWIW, I recently had some involvement with this one ...<br>
<br>
- KMix has an option to select the orientation, but the tray popup<br>
used to ignore this setting; only the main window would follow it.<br>
<br>
- The tray popup used to use vertical orientation, and from the above,<br>
this meant that setting the orientation to horizontal would have no<br>
effect on the popup.<br>
<br>
- One of the early KDE 4.8.x releases introduced a change that made<br>
the popup use horizontal orientation, again regardless of the<br>
setting. Immediately we got angry users on #kde who despised this.<br>
<br>
- Due to those angry users, I had a look at the code and made the<br>
popup follow the setting. As a result, due to KMix defaulting to<br>
vertical orientation, the popup is back to being vertical by de-<br>
fault in 4.8.3 or so.<br>
<br>
Personally, I prefer horizontal orientation, but this is definitely<br>
a matter of preference and there are vocal users who prefer vertical.<span class="HOEnZb"><font \
color="#888888"><br> <br>
<br>
-- <br>
Best regards,<br>
Eike Hein</font></span><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
______________________________<u></u>_________________<br>
kde-usability mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:kde-usability@kde.org" target="_blank">kde-usability@kde.org</a><br>
<a href="https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability" \
target="_blank">https://mail.kde.org/mailman/<u></u>listinfo/kde-usability</a><br> \
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>
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