[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       koffice-devel
Subject:    Re: Bug#43832: No way to set default page to open up by default
From:       NOLARD Michel <mnolard () info ! fundp ! ac ! be>
Date:       2002-06-13 14:12:00
[Download RAW message or body]

Le Jeudi 13 Juin 2002 09:47, Emmanuel Touzery a écrit :
> Hello,
> 
> 	Personnally i'm not bothered by this screen at the beginning of koffice 
> programs (so don't expect me to send a patch :O) ), but i think there is 
> maybe a better solution (?).
> 	asking the user is The Good Thing. now, do we really need to steal him \
> the  focus and force him to click on OK?

In fact, this IS the problem : some users want to get rid of this \
superfluous click (my sister, for example), while others (like me) prefer \
having the choice... Definitely, it is the point where work is needed ! I \
think that before adding functionnalities, a series of usability polls \
should be made about KOffice...

Another example is the "close the last document" thing : the user is \
working on many documents, say in KWord. At some point, when the copy paste \
is finished, he begin to close all the windows. But, if he wants to create \
another doc, he has to create it BEFORE closing all previous opened \
document if he doesn't want to "suffer" the loading time for KWord, as \
Kword will exit when final document is closed. It is contra-intuitive as \
                the user want to :
	- stop working on the current documents
	- then create a new document to work on
But he has to :
	- create an empyt new document
	- stop working on the current documents by closing them
	- start working on his new doc.

I have still another example : when a user want to edit the header or the \
footer, he has to go to View>footer or View>header, though in Word, since \
many years, simply double clicking in the supposed area is sufficient. I \
think this can be solved easily... as normal user don't bother of this, but \
advanced user has to do it quite often... and there is no option to \
automatically display header or footer...

You see, there are lots of usability problems like these in KOffice, and I \
think it should be something more important into developpers' minds as the \
user has to use an application before discovering its exciting new \
functionnalities...

 
> 	Attached a shot from wordXP. check out the right of the screen. maybe we \
>  could have this, that phases out after a timeout (yes, i know, koffice \
> has  more things to do before doing this kind of things :O), but just a 
> "theoritical" possible improvement).
> 
> emmanuel

I hope that noone will flame you for using Microsoft as an example. I won't \
start the fight ;-) I think it is a globally new behaviour in Windows XP \
and XP's products. It is a good idea IMHO, but it has to be followed by a \
closer integration of this way of thought in KDE itself : widgets \
especially designed for this purpose,... But, if KOffice would show the \
way, I would be proud to be part of the movement ! ;-) This a kind of new \
dialog system : You use the widget like if it was a dialog, but there is no \
Ok, Cancel or Apply button, and it is docked in the MainWindow. And it \
disappears when needed...

-- 
NOLARD Michel
Délégué 2° Maîtrise et Licence en Informatique
E-mail : mnolard@info.fundp.ac.be

"Unix is user friendly. It's just very picky about who its friends are..."
_______________________________________________
koffice-devel mailing list
koffice-devel@mail.kde.org
http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/koffice-devel


[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]