zui ideas

[Jamboarder]

It's been a while (since the 4.2 cycle) since I've contributed to plasma; things got really busy this last six months.
If it's worth anything, I thought I'd provide a little feedback on this zui topic.



----- Original Message ----
> From: Chani <chanika at gmail.com>
> zoom 2 (fully zoomed out):
> ...
> zoom level 1:
> ...
> zoom 1/2:
> ...
> zoom 0 (fully zoomed in):

The terms "Zoom Out" and "Zoom In" are presented to the user.  I wonder if this perhaps exposes the mechanism rather than the action(s) the user would like to perform.  What distinct functionality does each of the zoom level provide?  Or another way to put it might be, what activity would the user like to perform that would prompt the user to change zoom levels?

At the "zoom 0 (fully zoomed in)" level, the only thing I can think that "Zoom Out" provides is to show the available activities. Once "zoomed out (1/2, 1, 2)" the user can currently select an activity, create new activities, or remove existing activities.  If that is what it does (or is envisioned to do), would it make sense to label "Zoom Out" in the fully-zoomed-in/normal-desktop-view mode something like "Show Activities".  Selecting an activity could use the same Qt/KDE selection model similar to what's used throughout the desktop (essentially a single selection view).  Keyboard navigation could be the same as elsewhere on the desktop: arrows keys highlight, enter activates (zooms in).  Mouse navigation would be the same: mouse over highlights, click/double-click activates.  

To keep the move-applets-between-containments-using-the-mouse functionality probably requires the activate target outside the containment like the "Zoom In" on the handle is now (but perhaps bigger and labeled "Select" or "Select this activity" "Use" or something...).

If all the activites don't fit on the screen, perhaps the same mechanic that's used througout the desktop when display items don't fit on the display area could be used here: a horizontal scrollbar.   I have to keep reminding myself that I can drag-to-scroll when I've zoomed out to see the available activities. 

To push a little the further;  what about a zoom slider in the tool box once the user is in the "Show Activities"/(zoom > 0) mode.  The slider could use detents for each zoom level.  The user is arguably already familiar with the zoom slider from many apps (dolphin, gwenview). 

The visual presentation and interation would be mostly similar to a dolphin icon view in preview mode, only with live, more interactive "previews" (containments). One remaining question would be: are there any functions envisioned in the zoomed out modes that go beyond selecting, creating and removing activies that would not work with this suggested mechanic?

Just a few thoughts I hope are helpful, and I'm happy to pitch in some coding time to help whoever wants to work on this,
Andrew Lake