Martin, I have an idea- even though I never even looked at Kickoff.
(Before writing this, I SHOULD have looked - but I don't have time
right now.) It seems to me that all of the layout issues, and the
GUI focus issues, of doing a GUI "back button" can be avoided: Just
listen for a QMouseEvent with QMouseEvent::button() value of:
'XButton1' == 'BackButton' == 'ExtraButton1', and execute "back!"
whenever the event occurs in valid context.
The names 'BackButton and 'ExtraButton1' aren't defined until Qt5,
but 'XButton1' is already present in Qt 4.7 (and many earlier 4.x
Releases, as well). Implementing this, Xavier (and others) would be
able to buy and use a mouse with Thumb buttons, "back" and
"forward", and just whack the buttons. No mouse movements at all,
and no GUI issues for us. Am I am guilty of "old style" thinking, or
does this enhancement make sense to you?
My feeling is like a famous statement, from one of the bad guys in a
famous 'Spaghetti Western': "GUI Buttons? We Don't need no stinkin'
GUI Buttons !!!"
(Perform an action on the Button Event, but leave the GUI scheme as
is: using breadcrumbs exclusively)
On 01/-10/-28163 11:59 AM, Xavier Sythe wrote:
Actually, the breadcrumbs don't really need to be
removed.
I merely see the need to reinstate the back button.
"I personally do not see any need for the back button any more."
It's mostly a user experience perspective.
It's a simple fact that it requires less mouse movement, hence,
less time, to click the back button, then it does to move your
mouse to the top of the menu, and use the breadcrumbs. Why?
Because the back button extends all the way down the length of the
menu. Instead of having to move your mouse to the top of the
menu, then to the left, you can simply move it to the left and
click the button.
"The
breadcrumbs add high value to Kickoff. It makes navigation in a
folder like
structure like the application menu more convenient and much more
consistant
with other parts of KDE applications, e.g. Dolphin's..."
Just like in Dolphin, this menu style would feature both
breadcrumb navigation, and a back button.
Would you support removing the back button from Dolphin, in favour
of just breadcrumbs?
I doubt that anyone would support that.
I've chatted briefly with the KDE Usability Team, and they
actually seemed to agree with me.
Well some users might stick to the breadcrumb navigation, the
majority of users from previous versions of KDE are accustomed to
the back button, and appreciate its use, both in Kickoff as well
as in Dolphin. Including both types of navigation will ensure
that nobody complains, and presumably, lead to a better overall
user experience.
Thanks,
Xavier Sythe
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 2:12 PM, Martin
Gräßlin <mgraess...@kde.org>
wrote:
On Thursday 08 December 2011 16:01:33 Xavier
Sythe wrote:
> Nearly two months ago, I contacted him, and asked him
to reverse the
> controversial commit.
> He has yet to reply.
Please understand that not each developer has the time to
answer personal
requests. You state yourself that it is controversial. Just
imagine each user
disliking the feature sending a mail to Kevin. That just
doesn't scale.
Asking to revert the feature is to be honest non-constructive
criticism. Like
all other decisions on the default user interface they are
done with care. The
breadcrumbs add high value to Kickoff. It makes navigation in
a folder like
structure like the application menu more convenient and much
more consistant
with other parts of KDE applications, e.g. Dolphin's
breadcrumb navigation.
Just because you (and others) dislike the new feature it does
not justify to
revert the commit. There are also users liking the feature, so
how should we
suit both groups? Now please don't state that we need an
option for that. This
is not possible as the code gets too complex and too difficult
to maintain.
>
> When I asked the #KDE IRC channel about this, I was
told to contact the
> members of this mailing list, to see if I could get the
commit reversed.
Reverting the commit is clearly not an option. But what would
you say about
improving the breadcrumbs in Kickoff? Getting them into a
state that you want
to use them and not the out-of-place back button?
Have a look at my recent blog post [1] about the work on
Kickoff for 4.9. It
is easy to give this version a try, it installs alongside the
existing
Kickoff. I personally do not see any need for the back button
any more.
Kind Regards
Martin Gräßlin
New Kickoff Maintainer after branch merged into master
[1] http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2011/12/experience-from-porting-
kickoff-to-qml/
|
