[kde-guidelines] Possible guidelines for buttons with menus

[Aurélien Gâteau]

Le vendredi 2 août 2013 17:02:44 Heiko Tietze a écrit :
> Am Freitag, 2. August 2013, 16:08:11 schrieb Aurélien Gâteau:
> > What should we suggest to developers using this feature?
> 
> I don't like menu buttons at all. It actually combines a dropdown control
> with an "execute" button. The combination has the advantage of a
> comprehensive layout, perhaps a nice design, and it makes a little sense to
> hide the dropdown if most items are used very rarely (which should rather
> be reflected in the workflow or other controls/layout).

> But then it has the (in my opinion more relevant) drawback that the
> interaction and available features are not apparent to the user.

That is true for delayed menu buttons, but not for menu-only buttons: there is 
a down arrow on the right of the button, which I believe makes it clear that 
this button is going to bring up a menu. Do you think it is still confusing?

> One has to
> click the button to discover the provided options - which interferes with
> the actual execution. And users cannot be sure whether or not the selection
> of an item does execute the function or if it just selects the item. It's
> getitng worse with delayed interaction. What happens on premature drop down
> click? E.g. the menu does open after 2s but I did wait for 1s only. There
> is no clue for the user to know how this particular control works.

Agreed, delayed menu buttons are bad.

Aurélien