[KDE Usability] Re: Display Management Design

Moritz Hobe m.o at online.de
Fri Jul 29 13:34:03 UTC 2011


I'm not part of the official usability task force, but I would like to make a 
small comment on this mockup.

To me, that red cross looks like that  screen is broken/not working/not 
available (e.g. due to missing drivers) which of course is unfortunate.
A green check is always nice, telling the user "You did the right thing, it is 
working". That yellow star however does not show whether this screen is 
properly running or some kind of "favourite display" (whatever that may be) 
which yet needs to be activated.

Also the switch "Primary | Enabled | Disabled" is strange to me.
It implies that there is a fundamental difference between "Enabled" and 
"Primary", like there's a third state in between "On" and "Off".
I personally find that confusing. It also forces you to decide something you 
may have no knowledge about ("What is the difference between Enabled and 
Primary?") at a point you may not care about ("Just turn that thing on!").
Selecting a different monitor and putting it into Primary mode will 
automagically change the previous primary to "Enabled". I know there is no way 
of avoiding this as there can only be one primary screen, but a simple 
checkbox wouldn't be this intrusive.

Additional settings like DPI or colour profiles seem quite hidden to me but 
that may be different once it's actually implemented in Qt.

IMO the "Preferred activity" area should be moved to the top next to the name 
of the presentation as this has got something to do with the profile setup, 
not with the display configuration.
And just for my understandung: what is the comment "If above settings does not 
fit users expectations, custom layout could be chosen with some super geeky UI 
with total customizability." supposed to say? When is who going to choose what 
custom layout?

Greetings,
Moritz


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