Fitts's Law, or do you _really_ know how to make a good UI?

[Owen Williams <ywwg usa net>]

I sent this to Havoc, and he recommended I share it with the list.

> I like my panel applets flush with the screen edge, allowing me to take advantage of Fitts's law [see below],
> and thankfully GNOME has the "make buttons flush with panel edge" option.  the only problem is that
> the buttons in the _corner_ of the screen are only flush with one edge.  The other edge is pushed
> away from the screen by the "applet padding" distance.  Thus, I can't shoot the mouse to the corner
> of the screen and automatically select whatever I know is there.  I can reduce applet padding to
> zero, but this looks ugly.  Can GNOME be altered to include "make buttons flush with _screen_ edge"?
> 

Issues like this are discussed and explained on this page:
<http://www.quailwood.com/columns/022DesignedToGiveFitts.html> 

I hate the mac's ubiquitous menu bar too, but the author has a point.

Owen Williams