[Kde-games-devel] Review Request 114513: Facility to preview a completed Palapeli jigsaw puzzle

[Ian Wadham]

> On Dec. 23, 2013, 4:50 a.m., Alexander Schuch wrote:
> > src/window/mainwindow.cpp, line 125
> > <https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/114513/diff/1/?file=225786#file225786line125>
> >
> >     I do not know the style guidelines, but isn't it better to a "toggle action" so that the button "show preview" is rendered as pushed? - http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/qaction.html#checkable-prop
> 
> Ian Wadham wrote:
>     The style guidelines are a bit vague on this point, see http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/Toggle_Buttons and http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability/HIG/Toolbar, which both warn against using toggle buttons in toolbars and also recommend not to mix toggle buttons with other types of button. I have used toggle buttons in a toolbar in Kubrick and in the game editor of KGoldrunner. Also KStars has a toolbar full of toggle buttons, which do such things as showing/hiding stars, planets, constellation names, etc.
>     
>     In the current situation, I think a couple of words are better than a picture. The icon for "view-preview" (a hot-air balloon) is not very meaningful IMHO, so I went for explicit text that says what the button will do next. That way, a beginning user can easily see how to turn the preview off if it is getting in the way. Of course, a more advanced KDE jockey might right-click the toolbar and turn the text off, leaving him with just the hot-air balloon. So I'll settle for letting the button be "pushed in", but still having it say "Hide Preview", rather than "Show Preview" (confusingly), when it is pushed in.
> 
> Albert Astals Cid wrote:
>     Agreed, i think it's a bit confusing when you have a toggle button that changes text when toggled because you never know what's happening. I think that a "Show Preview" toggle button that when pressed shows the preview and when depressed not is the "easiest" way to get it shown to the user.
> 
> Alexander Schuch wrote:
>     This is what I actually meant: have a toggle button which always reads "Show Preview" but is rendered as pushed (active) or not pushed (not active). Thanks for the HIG links as well.

Well, this discussion just shows how confusing this aspect of GUIs is, IMHO. Imagine how it is for end-users. I guess I was trying for an Apple style (which I have also seen somewhere in KDE) where an action button or menu item can have two actions and the text changes to say (precisely) which action is next, i.e. "Show Preview" or "Hide Preview".

For me, a toggle button is best used where there is no verb, just a name, description or icon of something that is either on or off, e.g. "Satellites" in KStars. Having a button that says "Show Preview" and then gets "pushed in" and still says "Show Preview" is potentially confusing for the end-user. How do you turn off the Preview? 


- Ian


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On Dec. 16, 2013, 9:48 p.m., Ian Wadham wrote:
> 
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> 
> (Updated Dec. 16, 2013, 9:48 p.m.)
> 
> 
> Review request for KDE Games.
> 
> 
> Repository: palapeli
> 
> 
> Description
> -------
> 
> Facility to preview a completed Palapeli jigsaw puzzle.
> 
> Original by Johannes Loehnert, 2010, modified by Ian Wadham to use current Palapeli interfaces.
> 
> The preview is controlled by a button in the toolbar, which is enabled when a puzzle is being solved. It appears in a floating tool-window and can be shown or hidden at will. The window can be moved, resized, maximized or closed (hidden, but not deleted). It is deleted when the user returns to the puzzle-collection view or terminates Palapeli when in solving mode. The window's title is derived from the name of the puzzle, e.g. "Citrus Fruits - Preview". Its visibility and geometry are saved in Settings between uses. If visibility is on in Settings, the puzzle preview appears immediately a puzzle is requested and can be viewed while the puzzle is loading.
> 
> When the mouse pointer is moved into the preview window, the view is automatically magnified to show an area of at least 3x3 pieces. As the pointer moves around, the view automatically scrolls, to allow the user to home in rapidly on any detail of the puzzle's image.
> 
> 
> Diffs
> -----
> 
>   src/window/mainwindow.cpp e3305fb 
>   src/window/mainwindow.h f94e52c 
>   src/palapeliui.rc d888c0d 
>   src/main.cpp f7fec86 
>   src/palapeli.kcfg b30d6b1 
>   src/engine/puzzlepreview.cpp PRE-CREATION 
>   src/engine/puzzlepreview.h PRE-CREATION 
>   src/CMakeLists.txt c648c91 
> 
> Diff: https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/114513/diff/
> 
> 
> Testing
> -------
> 
> Developed and tested on an Apple Macbook OS X platform, using KDE from Macports.
> 
> Tested all the features described above, including title bar buttons. Also tested cases where image and Palapeli metadata are unavailable, in which case the preview contains a text message and a generic title.
> 
> On Apple, the Minimize button is disabled and has not been tested. I am not sure if it will be enabled in Linux, nor what its effect should be.
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Ian Wadham
> 
>

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