Display Configuration KCM design review

[todd rme]

On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 2:29 PM, Dan Vrátil <dvratil at redhat.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> As some might notice [0], we are working with Alex Fiestas on new display
> management for KDE. I'm now working on new KCM. Aaron suggested in comments
> below the blog post that it would be nice to discuss design of the KCM with
> you, Plasma guys.
>
> As d_ed and few others suggested, I have rewritten the bottom control pane to
> use standard QWidgets rather then QML, so now it looks like this: [1].
>
> Still, I really suck at UI design, so I would appreciate any input from you on
> what can improve not just integration with the rest of Workspaces but also
> user experience.
>
> There are two problems with icons I already know about, but I'm unsure of the
> what the best step would be:
>         1) icons for rotation - should I make special "90 deg clockwise" and "90
> deg counterclockwise" icons, as shown here [2]?
>         2) icon for primary output - some people did not understand that the
> bookmark icon represents primary monitor. Is it OK or should I try to find
> something better (and what do you think would fit best)?
>
> If you want to try it, you need my "fork" of Alex's libkscreen (contains
> things I didn't send to Alex for review yet) from scratch/dvratil/libkscreen-
> clone.git and the KCM from scratch/dvratil/displayconfiguration.git
>
> Note: the KCM can be already used to configure monitors, but does not yet
> react to changes (i.e. it won't update when you unplug a monitor)
>
> Cheers,
> Dan

Great overall, but I do have a few possible suggestions:

1. Currently you already display the resolution and refresh rate in
the layout display.  Is there any way you can make those dropdown
lists so people can change them right there?  That would also allow
you to eliminate the bottom panel entirely.

2. People have suggested a margin.  Another possibility might be a
thicker border with some sort of bezel or gradient.  That would
provide a better visual distinction between the screens while still
clearly showing them as touching.  The true screen bottom margin could
be thicker or different in some other way, allowing you to eliminate
the underline.

3. If I recall correctly (and someone please correct me if I am
wrong), but having icons change depending on their state is
discouraged.  If that is the case, it might be better to have the
check icon just turn gray when unchecked, or have some similar sort of
visual change, rather than turning it to an X.  I would also change
the color of the screen and perhaps turn its title to gray as well to
make it really clear it is turned off.

Some questions (suggestions if they aren't implemented):

1. is there any sort of snapping?  For example if the top edges of the
two screens are closed to lined up, while they snap to being exactly
lined up?

2. Can users move the screens by small amounts using the arrow keys?

3. When you move secondary screens, is there anything showing where
the screen top-left corner in primary screen coordinates?  For example
text in one of the corners

4. Are arbitrary rotations allowed, or only rotations in 90 degree
increments?  If the latter, might it be a good idea to allow users to
press and hold on the icon to get a dropdown list of allowed
rotations?

Thanks again for doing this

-Todd