Re: GnomePropertyBox

[nils <n p sun com>]

Iain wrote:

> Morn'

G'Day

>
>
> Given that there's a freeze coming up in about a month, is there any
> possibility that we could change GnomePropertyBox so that it doesn't
> suck? My current problems with it are
> a) When there's only one page, there shouldn't be tabs (minor nitpick)
> b) The buttons at the bottom are too confusing. It used to be that of
> the 4 buttons Ok and Apply were ghosted until the user changed something
> then they lit up and did their funky stuff, but somewhere along the
> lines it changed so that only Apply was ghosted until a change. This
> means that we have Ok and Close which often do the same thing.
>
> Scenario 1:
> User opens dialog and wants to close it straight away. Apply is ghosted,
> Ok and Close do the same thing. Which should the user click?
>
> Scenario 2:
> User changes something and clicks apply to check it's correct. It is.
> They want to close it. Apply is ghosted, and again Ok and Close do the
> same thing.
>
> c) There's no way to revert changes to the previous settings.
>
> My suggestions for this would be to change the buttons to be the same
> idea as the Control Centre: "Try" "Revert" "Okay" "Cancel" "Help". I'm
> just worried that 5 buttons might be overwhelming but this set up gives
> what I think is a pretty good control over the preferences.

Sun has developed a 'style' for how to deal with this old issue which I
quite like.
Here is an excerpt from a forthcomming extension to the Java UI Style Guide:

***

Command Buttons in Non-Inspecting Property Windows

Before deciding which command buttons to place in a non-inspecting property
window,
estimate how many times a user will need to use the window before closing
it.
If a user will use a property window only once before closing it, then place
an
OK and a Cancel button in that order at the bottom right of the window,
as shown in Figure 13.

<OK> <Cancel>
FIGURE 13 Required Buttons for a Single-Use Property Window

Optionally, you can add a Help button to the right of the Cancel button, as
shown in Figure 14.

<OK> <Cancel><Help>
FIGURE 14 Required and Optional Buttons for a Single-Use Property Window

If a user will probably use a property window repeatedly before closing it,
place an Apply and a Close button in that order at the bottom right of the
window, as shown in Figure 15.

<Apply> <Close>
FIGURE 15 Required Buttons for a Repeated-Use Property Window

Optionally, you can place a Reset button between the Apply button and the
Close button, and place a Help button to the right of the Close button, as
shown in Figure 16.

<Apply><Reset> <Close><Help>
FIGURE 16 Required and Optional Buttons for a Repeated-Use Property Window

***

Reset doesn't really map 1-1 to Revert; Reset only reverts to the state
after the last apply,
where I guess Revert reverts to the state before the last apply. But, that
not really the point.

The thing I like is that <Apply> with <Close> or <OK> with <Cancel> seem to
work well
together for certain types of property boxes. But perhaps it's not a good
idea to mix them
together in the same property box? For the CC it seems that <Apply> with
<Close> is
a better solution (with perhaps a Revert/Undo).

Nils