Re: Control-center styles

[Nicholas Curran <quasar austar net au>]

On Sat, 2001-12-29 at 04:59, Chris Lyttle wrote:
> On 28 Dec 2001, Havoc Pennington wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Since all UI threads benefit from more opinions ;-) 
> > 
> > I agree with Jonathan that there should be a button to close the
> > dialog, but I like something Seth mentioned on IRC - that it should be
> > either "OK" or "Done" so it's clear it won't lose changes.
> > 
> 
> To add to the opinionations...
>
> [yada, yada, yada...]
> 
> I dont see why you are all making a fuss about how 'hard' it is not to 
> have a close button. Its not.
> 

I disagree.  It is harder.  But I don't think anyone has noted why in
this thread.

Imagine having a hard time controlling your mouse (because your new to
computers or your mouse has a ton of dust in it).  You want to dismiss a
dialog.  You have a choice: the dialog frame's close button, or the "OK"
button.

Typically, how big is the average close button on a window frame?  On
the theme I have at the moment, it is 14 x 17 pixels.  That is a target
area of 238 pixels.

Let's use the Nautilus preference dialog "OK" button as an example "OK"
button.  Its size is 81 x 34 pixels.  A target area of 2754 pixels.

If you were having trouble controlling the mouse, would you close the
dialog with the button on the frame, or on the dialog?  In other words,
which is the easier widget to acquire with the mouse, and therefore, the
most usable solution?

Nicholas Curran
<quasar austar net au>