KDE4 HIG issue: search/filter bars and the clear button

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Thursday 02 March 2006 12:46, Leo Savernik wrote:
>  Am Donnerstag, 2. März 2006 00:23 schrieb Aaron J. Seigo:
>  > On Wednesday 01 March 2006 12:39, Leo Savernik wrote:ss
>  So usability is actually about: "If few people use it, remove it."?

 * we don't expose every bit of functionality we have to the user in the 
interface

 * turning something off by default is not removing it (c.f. the tools menu in 
konqi)

 * see my later mail to this list with the subject "Re: KIconDialog 0.2":

>  > what i find REALLY funny about the "advanced feature" argument in this
>  > case is that if you REALLY want MMB paste to be fast in konqi ... middle
>  > click in the content area. that's 2 clicks better than the clear button.
>  > how's that for advanced features? (firefox does this too, btw)
>
>  I know, but you're mixing different use cases. If one wants to *open* an
> url quickly, one may well mmb-paste directly into the content-area.
> However, if one wants to *edit* an mmb-pasted url, one *has* to paste it
> into the location bar. But lacking the clear-button you can't preserve the
> primary selection without going through great strides.

so if that's how you work, add the fucking button back. seriously.

but please realize that most people do not work that way and that this isn't 
the Leo Savernick Desktop Environment.

>  And pasting and editing urls is really only used by very few people, so,
>  according to the usability rules, it should be removed?

pasting URLs is more common IME and since we need to offer pasting, we can 
offer editing without much/any further cost.

>  > >  but usability isn't about
>  > > making the advanced users' lives harder.
>  >
>  > the "advanced user" can add the button to their toolbar.
>
>  At the price that all toolbar customisations are lost on each rc-version
>  upgrade. So the advanced user is punished every time he upgrades KDE.

we're moving away from XMLGUI in kde4 anyways so this will probably disappear.

>  > or we can even
>  > provide a "Power User" web profile.
>
>  This looks like a good solution at the first glance, but effectively
> resembles an introduction of user levels through the backdoor. The typical
> problem with diverting-from-default settings is that they tend to become
> unmaintained quickly and totally break within two or three minor releases.

if something becomes unmaintained, i'd suggest that would be a clue as to its 
utility. in this case, however, there are enough power users used to how 
konqi looks and works right now that i wager it would be successful.

>  > but having KDE default configuration optimized for 1% of people and
>  > unoptimized for everyone else is a bit insane. granted, it's not always
>  > so obvious and clear a demarcation as this item is, but that is IMHO the
>  > truth.
>
>  I can't follow the argumentation that a small clear button makes the ui
>  "unoptimised" for 99%.

one button here, one button there ... our toolbars are, to put it bluntly, 
shit because we completely abuse them with this one little feature here, one 
little feature there

have you ever watch the Monty Python Movie "The Meaning of Life" where that 
fat guy is tempted into eating the wafer thin chocolate for desert at the 
restaurant and blows up because of that one last bit? same deal.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

Full time KDE developer sponsored by Trolltech (http://www.trolltech.com)
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