[Digikam-devel] Fwd: [RFC] Action Map

[Mikolaj Machowski]

Hello,

I am very often lost in IE menus. Maybe some help for users?

m.

----------  Forwarded message ----------

Subject: [RFC] Action Map
Date: sobota, 20 maja 2006 16:12
From: Dominik Seichter <domseichter at web.de>
To: kde-usability at kde.org
Cc: Daniel Neuber <Daniel.Neuber at web.de>

Hello,

I added a feature called "Action Map" to my application KBarcode in its
 CVS today. I think this feature could help to improve the useabillity of
 all KDE applications.

It would be great if I could get some feedback here, if this is a good
 idea and if I should continue to work on my proof of concept
 implementation.

You can find more information, screeshots and the sample implementation
 which can be used in all KDE applications at:
http://krename.sourceforge.net/data/actionmap/

What is an Action Map?
==============

Almost every web page has a site map. According to Wikipedia, a site map
"helps visitors, and search engine robots, to find pages on the site".
Similar an Action Map should help the user to find actions (i.e. functions
 or menu items) in an application.

More concrete an Action Map is a dialog with a list of all actions (i.e.
 make text bold, save file or insert image) that can be performed in the
 application at its current state. Additionally there is a search box at
 the top of the list so that the user can search the list easily for a
 special action. The action is executed by clicking on it. Disabled
 actions are grayed out and cannot be clicked. The dialog is modeless so
 that it can always be open and the normal usage of the application is not
 disturbed.

Why do I need an Action Map?
==================

Imagine you are using a word processor. You know there is a function to
 insert a footnote - but you cannot remember where you can find this
 feature in the large menu. You now go to the Help menu and open the
 Action Map. Type "footnote" in the searchbox and you will find the
 footnote feature. You can immediately click on the feature and insert a
 new footnote.

Additionally an Action Map can be used to browse through all the actions
 of an application and see which features it does provide.

Action Maps might not be necessary for small applications as well as site
 maps are not necessary for small webpages. But they are in my opinion a
 good addition to larger applications with lot's of menu items and
 function. As the user can get lost easily in large menus. Along with the
 KHelpCenter and what's this? help Action Maps can help the user to use
 KDE applications more easily.

Feedback Wanted!
===========

I have some questions to the useability experts out there:

- Is an Action Map useful?
- Does it help the user to find functions in an application?
- How can the implementation be improved?
- Would it make sense to add an Action Map feature to KDE 4?

Please send me your comments. If it is useful I will continue to improve
 the current implementation and port it to KDE 4.

Thanks in advance!

best regards,
	Dom
--
**********************************************************************
Dominik Seichter - domseichter at web.de
KRename  - http://www.krename.net  - Powerful batch renamer for KDE
KBarcode - http://www.kbarcode.net - Barcode and label printing
SchafKopf - http://schafkopf.berlios.de - Schafkopf, a card game,  for KDE
Alan - http://alan.sf.net - A Turing Machine in Java
**********************************************************************

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