discuss: consistency in KDE GUI

[Orville Bennett]

On Dec 22, 2006, at 1:12 AM, subbukk wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> KDE is a nice way for people to get introduced to computing for the  
> first
> time. However, I noticed a pattern of confusion in beginners. KDE is
> designed around objects and operations. Yet, this design is not
> consistently surfaced in application interfaces and the dissonance is
> confusing to beginners.
>
> Take Konqueror for instance. Its menu bar contains:
>  Location Edit View Bookmarks Tools Settings Help
>
> The intuitive way to stop konqueror would be:
>  Konqueror stop/exit/quit
Intuitive if you happen to be used to macs. Windows uses File -> Quit/ 
Close. But yes, your point is still a valid one.
>
> But there is no "Konqueror" button in the menubar. Some operations  
> under
> Location button like New Window, New Tab, apply to Konqueror the  
> program
> and not to Location. Similarly, the Settings button also lists  
> commands
> that are handled by the program. Perhaps, we should begin the menu
> with "Konqueror" and move Settings under this. Atleast, it will help
> build the brand :-).
>
> The Edit button is a verb and not a "thing". It is confusing because
> Konqueror cannot edit a webpage. The ops - cut, copy, paste, find,

You seem to be ignoring the fact that every other web browser does  
this too. Given your seeming penchant for intuitive behavior, don't  
you think it would be a step backwards to move cut,copy,paste,find  
functions somewhere else?
> select - applies to text selections in a web page. When dealing with
> folders, it shows "copy files", "move files" etc.
Why is this a problem?

>
> View/Bookmark/Tools/Help buttons are easy to understand and operate.
>
> Kio slaves are so useful, it is a pity that they are not exposed  
> directly
> in the menubar. They could be surfaced through Tools  (e.g. Tools| 
> Locate
> or Tools:Google") or have a separate button "Kio".
>
> Konqueror is just a sample. Other apps like KMail are much worse.  
> Though,
> KMail doesnt deal with files, its menubar starts with "File"!
Actually it does deal with files. Attachments are files. The mail  
messages you read and compose are files as well.
>
> Should KDE apps be designed to be consistent with the underlying  
> object
> models?
Definitely.
> Should KDE core libs be engineered to encourage (or enforce) this
> consistency?
How do you encourage consistency with a set of libraries? I can see  
how you could enforce this, but "therein lies the path to destruction  
my son."
> For instance, should "menubar" be restricted to "things"
> while "toolbar" limited to actions?
These should all be guidelines, and such guidelines should exist in  
the KDE HIG. And speaking of the KDE HIG, work has begun on an  
updated version for KDE 4.
Check out http://usability.kde.org/activity/reports/2006/hig- 
information-design.php , http://usability.kde.org/activity/reports/ 
2006/hig-user-research.php , and for what I believe is the HIG work  
in progress http://wiki.openusability.org/guidelines/index.php/Main_Page
beware that last link however. It's quite possibly the ugliest  
webpage you've ever seen. I happen to have seen worse but my eyes  
still recoil to the back of my skull a little whenever i first go to  
that page.
>
> Happy Holidays,
> K. K. Subbu
Likewise.

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