kdemultimedia (setCheckedState)

[Scott Wheeler]

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On Tuesday 18 May 2004 10:15, David Faure wrote:
> On Tuesday 18 May 2004 09:17, Scott Wheeler wrote:
> > On Saturday 15 May 2004 17:29, Stephan Binner wrote:
> > > CVS commit by binner:
> > >
> > > setCheckedState++
> > >
> > >
> > >   M +6 -2      juk/juk.cpp   1.201
> > >   M +4 -2      kmid/kmidframe.cpp   1.65
> > >   M +1 -0      noatun/library/noatunstdaction.cpp   1.20
> > >   M +1 -0      noatun/modules/excellent/userinterface.cpp   1.86
> > 
> > To be honest -- I'd like to see this stuff ripped back out.  I didn't see 
a
> > discussion of it anywhere and I think it's a regression in terms of
> > usability.
> > 
> > If I quickly glance at at toggle action I can distinguish:
> > 
> > [ ] Show Search Bar
> > [x] Show Search Bar
> > 
> > very quickly.  It clearly visually indicates that it is a field with two
> > states 
> That's not true - when it's not checked, nothing indicates that it can be 
> checked. 

A fair point.  But I think this would be the appropriate thing to address.  
(Simply drawing a raised box in that position I think would work just fine.)

> > and what its present state is. 
> 
> But the label is wrong. You have to click on "Show Search Bar" to hide
> it, when it's shown. That's like clicking on "Start" to shutdown your 
> computer :-))

Well, then we should remove every checkbox in KDE because they're all wrong 
too.  ;-)

But it's a useful and familiar visual construct (in a GUI or on paper).  When 
people see "[x] Add me to your mailing list" it's clear that it represents a 
boolen decision.  Based on your line above you're saying that one would 
assume that checked or unchecked they would be added to the mailing list as 
that's what the label says.

> Menu items are not status, but verbs, for actions, as much as possible.
> 
> > However with the options: 
> > 
> > o Show Search Bar
> > o Hide Search Bar
> > 
> > I actually have to read the label, think about the current state, etc.  
> You don't need to think about the current state - the label tells you
> what clicking there will do.

Which would be great if people actually read labels every time.  :-)

Really when we're using familiar interfaces we don't read most of the text 
that's thrown up in front of us.  That's kind of the whole idea of icons on 
buttons, check boxes, progress bars, etc.  In a strict sense this is of 
course more accurate, but it doesn't reflect the way that people actually 
interact with GUIs.

If you get a "Host not responding" popup in Konq do you actually read it?  No 
- -- especially since you've probably already noticed that it's not responding, 
so you know what the dialog is going to say after your seen it once or twice.

- -Scott

- -- 
If you want to get laid, go to college, but if you want an education, go to 
the library.
- --Frank Zappa
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