Resizing panel vertically not intuitive: Re: 2 Minor Ideas for Plasma

[Robert Knight]

Hi,

> I couldn't figure out how to get it to adjust the panel's
> height—a task that was relatively easy with the last prerelease that I
> tested.

I'll second that.  Had I not read Martin's blog post I don't think I
would have been able to figure out how to resize the panel vertically.

I also wonder if it might be an idea to add labels to indicate what the
arrows do rather than requiring the user to mouse over and wait for the
tooltips?

> 1) make the top of the panel draggable instead of the top of the
> configuration dialog

If at all possible I think that would be the most obvious answer.

Regards,
Robert.

On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 18:41 -0400, Thomas Georgiou wrote:
> Hi
> Here are my random thoughts about some aspects of plasma:
> 
> 1) Resizing the panel vertically -
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080529-hands-on--plasma-continues-to-advance-in-kde-4-1-beta-1.html
> "Although the new system makes it easy to change the panel's width and
> position, I couldn't figure out how to get it to adjust the panel's
> height—a task that was relatively easy with the last prerelease that I
> tested. This is a regression that will likely be fixed before the
> final release." - This reviewer could not discover how to resize the
> panel vertically.
>   2 ideas that could make it easier:
>      1) make the top of the panel draggable instead of the top of the
> configuration dialog
>      2) add horizontal arrows pointing to the place that is draggable
> in order to show that it exists (arrows = resizing)
> 
> 2) Some applets cannot yet/will not support some form factors like 3rd
> party widgets will not support panels and the dict applet does not
> support panels yet.  To avoid confusion to the user, it might be
> desirable for applets to have a list of form factors they support.
> Then, for example, when they are being dragged to the panel, the mouse
> cursor will change to the not supported action one (cancel icon or
> something) and the user will not be allowed to drag it to the panel.\
> 
> Thomas Georgiou
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