[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]