[KDE Usability] KMix UI orientation

[Dotan Cohen]

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 9:50 PM, Trever Fischer
<tdfischer at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> I'm starting to have a look at a lot of the papercuts in kdemultimedia,
> trying to polish up all the little details that bother me.
>
> Here's my first question:
>
> Does KMix really need vertical slider orientation?
>
> How many people really feel that having two different layouts is a major
> feature?
>
> I've taken some screenshots of the two layouts, for reference:
>
> Tray popup with horizontal: http://i.imgur.com/QrOuO.png
> Tray popup with veritcal: http://i.imgur.com/vwY8Q.png
>
> Mixer dialog with horizontal: http://i.imgur.com/PTMLt.png
> Mixer dialog with vertical: http://i.imgur.com/8AuMS.png
>
> I propose removing the vertical layout entirely on the basis that it
> makes the text look so super squished in there and takes up a *ton* of
> space in the tray popup. With PulseAudio support, it is very common to
> have really long labels, as you can see in my screenshots.
>
> As far as I can tell, the only benefit a vertical layout provides to the
> user is it makes it look like one of those 1980s equalizer boxes.
>
> From a technical aspect, removing the vertical layout would clean up a
> lot of the code.
>

I prefer the horizontal layout visually, and it is easier to use for
those who will grab the slider with the mouse. Mice are easier to
control in the X axis than the Y axis.

However, for RTL users like myself, it might not be clear (or even
consistent across applications) which way is Louder. Therefore this
should be very clearly marked. At least the vertical slider is clear
in this regard.


-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://gibberish.co.il
http://what-is-what.com