[DISCUSS] K HIG Toolbars

[Florian Graessle]

seele at obso1337.org wrote:
> You dont normally see this, but are there any apps which use vertical
> toolbars?  Should they be allowed under special circumstances (which
> cases?) or just not condoned at all?

Have a look at some graphics apps like e.g. kolorpaint. They usually use
vertical toolbars a lot. Kdissert or kivio have vertical toolbars as
well. So I think vertical toolbars do make sense under special
circumstances.

> Toolbars typically contain buttons, and sometimes dropdowns and input text
> fields.  I havnt seen this (nor does it sound like a good idea), but are
> there any cases checkboxes or radio buttons are used?  Normally when you
> "toggle" a selection, you click/unclick a button (such as "italic"). 
> Generally I dont think checkboxes or radio buttons would have a place in a
> toolbar unless someone comes up with a good use.

KPDF uses three radio buttons in the toolbar to change between three
mouse modes: a browse mode, in which the mouse is used to scroll through
a document. a selection mode in which the user uses the mouse cursor to
select text. And last a zoom mode with which the user can zoom in and
out. Of course they don't look like the radio buttons we can see in
dialogs. They are buttons in a row of which only one can be toggled at
the same time. I can't think of a better way to show the user what mode
she is in and combine that with an easy way to change the mode at the
same time.

> Are there any toolbar items which have sub menus when you click on them? 
> I cant think of any examples, but just asking to verify.  The toolbar
> should be used as a shortcut menu and sub menus should be left to the menu
> bar.

Have a look at kmail. There you have a toolbar button called "check mail
in". If it is pressed and released at once all mail accounts are checked
for new mail. If the mouse button is pressed and held, a sub menu
appears with which one can choose one specific mail account to be
checked. Kmail's "Replay" and "Forward"-buttons behave similarly. The
"Up"- and "Back"-buttons in Konqueror do so, too. I hope you thought of
such examples when you said "sub menu".

Florian