Dropdown- vs. Combo-Buttons

[Mark Kretschmann]

On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 4:36 PM, Thomas Pfeiffer <colomar at autistici.org> wrote:
> I just noticed a little usability bug in the toolbar (in 2.2.0, I don't know
> if it's still present in 2.2.1): The "Save Current Playlist" icon and the
> "Playlist Layouts" icon have the same look but react differently to clicks.
>
> The save icon initiates a save directly on click, thus making it a combo
> button (since it can be used as a normal button or as a dropdown when holding
> the mousebutton down). The Playlist Layouts, on the other hand, only displays
> the dropdown on click, thus making it a dropdown button.
>
> This is inconsistent since users who have used the layout button would expect
> the save button to display the dropdown on click as well but the playlist is
> saved instead.
>
> The problem is that currently KDE4 doesn't distinguish between dropdown- and
> combobuttons, which is a general problem.
>
> So I see three options here:
> 1. Try to come up with a visual distinction between dropdown and combobutton
> and try to push Amarok's solution to KDE in general
> 2. Ask the KDE usability team to come up with a distinction to use for all KDE
> apps
> 3. Try to come up with a default action for the layout button (e.g. configure
> layouts) to make it a combobutton as well.

We've noticed that too, and so we've changed some aspects of it, like
the grouping. It's now more logical. Check this screenshot:

http://mark.kollide.net/amarok_oxygen_handle.png


So I think this improves things a bit, but further improvements are
probably desirable.

-- 
Mark Kretschmann
Amarok Developer
www.kde.org - amarok.kde.org