[Kde-games-devel] Usability review and advice for kdegames

[Mauricio Piacentini]

Dmitry Suzdalev wrote:
>>  - Could we have the message on the corner? (Like in KBlackBox ,o) )
> Personally I'd like to show "GAME OVER" in center :)
> Well, even if I place it in the corner it still may hover some mines -
> only the corner ones :).

I like it in the center as well for game over... Maybe you can make it 
90% or 85% opaque, like the KBlocks one? This can be enough to let the 
user see the underlying field solution, perhaps...

>>  - Could it be possible to click on it to hide it instantly (before the end
>> of
>> the timer)?
> I guess no. KGamePopupItem is specifically designed not to hide while
> it has the mouse above it - that is so user can hover the item and
> read whole message without having it disappear.
> You think that should be changed?

I am not sure this is needed, but if you want to add this capability you 
could maybe do like the Firefox information bar... Add a small element 
at the right that can be clicked to close it. Maybe this element can 
appear only when the mouse is hovered over the KGamePopupItem?

A rough idea is at

http://www.tabuleiro.com/mauricio/usabilityreview/usability10.png

Of course, the label needs to be a bit wider in this case to accomodate 
the close widget. I am not sure if this is needed, however. Maybe the 
best thing is to reduce the time of the messages to at most 2-3 seconds 
before they automatically disappear, and make it a bit transparent in 
cases like this.

Regards,
Mauricio