Mouse related accessibility settings (was: [Kde-accessibility] kcontrol)

[Aaron J. Seigo]

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On Wednesday 18 December 2002 03:58, Olaf Jan Schmidt wrote:
> > Break up the group into Regional as one group and Accessibility as
> > another group.

we already have 10 groups.... what would having a seperate Accessability 
branch in kcontrol provide for users besides inflating that number to 11 and 
really reinforcing the concept that it's impossible to learn the kcontrol 
hierarchy because it's always changing? ;-)

> "Regional and Accessibility" is more or less a container for everything
> that did not fit into any of the other groups. 

well, not really.. it's a container for Regional and Accessability settings. 
they weren't put into seperate groups because we already have enough/too many 
top level groups and there is some odd overlap between the sorts of settings 
in each (e.g. all the keyboard related items) so we can "get away" with that 
grouping.

> > The Accessbility group will contain: Bell and Keyboard (break that tabs
> > into two at least there are more things) and in a close feature Text To
> > Speech (a.k.a.: Proklam).
>
> Yes, in an "Accessibility" group we should have four items: keyboard,
> mouse, bell, and the new text-to-speech module.

why not just add a mouse tab to the Accessability panel and add the 
text-to-speach module to the Regional & Accessability group? i don't think it 
would be any better or worse that what you suggest.

i'd personally really like to allow our users to get used to and learn a 
kcontrol hierarchy. one thing we learned during the reorg for 3.1 is that it 
is nigh impossible to get a perfect arrangement. 

> > I would like to know your comments and ideas about it to make a more or
> > less formal 'petition' to kde-core-devel@kde.org about this changes
> > from the KDE Accessibility team.
>
> I am cc'ing this to the kde-usability list. From the accessibility point
> of view, we definately need a second rework for KDE 3.2, as some
> accessibility related settings have been moved out of the Accessibility
> group, which is very confusing.

i suppose you are refering to the mouse items? which items in the mouse 
kcontrol are considered accessability items? (that's an honest question =)

is it the cursor size and mouse navigation stuff?

in any case, i don't see why those, like the keyboard settings, couldn't be 
duplicated on the Accessability tab. i also think there are more inventive 
means to approach a better semblance of order than simply more moving of 
kcontrol items about...

about 4th on my TODO list for 3.2 is some work on kcontrol's navigation which 
will elevate in importance the help tab by making it always visible and 
extending with items like a "Related Tasks" box that will allow links to 
other related control panels regardless of their location in the hierarchy. 
personally i think this will give us more and better tools for improving 
navigation instead of the often heard "Reorganize the tree!" mantra. 

in fact, i'm begining to hear that phrase in John Cleese's voice, ala The 
Search for the Holy Grail. ;-)

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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