contextmenu shortcut broken (was Re: Kuickshow's UI)

[Klas Kalass]

Am Mittwoch, 17. Juli 2002 22:27 schrieb Carsten Pfeiffer:
> On Tuesday 16 July 2002 12:29, Rik Hemsley wrote:
> > Right click on a picture in konqueror (file manager mode.) and choose
> > 'open in new window.' That'll open it in kuickshow. Now, what does the
> > user do if they want to e.g. save this image, or zoom in ?
> >
> > You use the context menu to save, print etc. As this is a KDE app,
> > shouldn't it have a menubar, toolbar, etc ? I think context menus are
> > supposed to be used to provide fast(er) access to things which you can do
> > already from menus/toolbars. Certainly someone who cannot use a mouse
> > would have trouble finding out how to save/print/edit.
>
> If you can't use a mouse, you want a tool- and menubar? You want shortcuts
> then, which kuickshow provides. Toolbars are exactly useless for mouse-less
> users. And I don't see much of a difference of pressing Alt to access the
> menubar or the Contextmenu key to access the contextmenu.
That reminds me of something: Is it just my system, or is the contextmenu 
shortcut broken?
In the kmail editor, the menu key works, but not my other defined shortcut and 
in all other apps I tried (Konqueror, KDesktop, Kate) it does not work at 
all. This applies to a recent CVS ( few days old) but I have seen this before 
(I don't know when it started) with a fresh install and a fresh user.

Regarding menubar vs. contextmenu: Menubar is more obvious because it is 
visible. Everybody who knows how to use keyboard for navigation knows that he 
just needs to press Alt + <whatever> to open the menu.
A Contextmenu is "hidden" and thus not obvious that it exists. Furthermore it 
should usually operate on an object, thus providing options to manipulate 
this object (text, files in konqueror etc.). So at least "show next/previous" 
and "close" are non-standard entries and Gimp-Style UI, not KDE.

Shortcuts are only usefull for advanced users, first time users need to see 
instantly what they can do or at least how they can access more actions, i.e. 
they almost certainly need a menubar unless they are already familiar with 
Gimp...

When kuickshow is started without a file the interface (filebrowser mode) is 
simply not usable without a mouse, or did I miss something?

So I think that your app would benefit a lot from a menubar for the 
filebrowser mode.
If the users are expected to use the view mode strictly for viewing in the 
default size and then closing the window, I think the interface for it is OK. 
But if you want them to know about all the things one can do with quickshow 
you need a menubar+toolbar for the view mode, or even integrate it with the 
filebrowser mode.
 Advanced users who appreciate the current style will always be able to find 
"hide menu" and "hide toolbar" I reccon.

Regards,
Klas