Fwd: [Usability] Gtk+ Font Dialog improvements

[Philip Ganchev <phil ganchev gmail com>]

Hi Henrique

Your mockup looks nice. I do not understand exactly the problems you
wanted to solve, but I have a couple of suggestions and questions.

1. The font family names in column "Family" should be displayed in the
font family they represent. This avoids having to click on the family
name to see what the font looks like; the user can just see it from
the list. The same goes for Typeface and the "All fonts" combo box.

2. What is the difference between the options under "Typeface" and
those under "All fonts"? I'm not sure it will be clear to the user.

3. Why is there a box under the size list (showing "22"), but no box
under the Typeface list or the Family list? If a box is not needed in
those cases, maybe it is not needed under Size either.

4. What happens when the user chooses size 22, then chooses size 8,
thereby changing the size of the bottom panel - does the whole box
become shorter or do instead the vertical lists become longer?

5. Would it not be better to make the dialog instantly change the
current font rather than wait for the dialog to be dismissed with
"OK"? In that case the buttons should be labeled "Revert" and "Close".
This allows immediate feedback and perhaps even makes the preview
unnecessary (if the user has selected some text in a document).



On Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 12:55 AM, Henrique Carvalho
Alves<hcarvalhoalves gmail com> wrote:
> There was discussion on this some time ago, and the discussion got lost. I'm
> trying to raise interest
> on this issue again.
>
> I did a mockup for a new gtk+ font chooser, as I find the current one
> lacking from usability aspects,
> and wanted to gather some feedback. If there's any interest, please read the
> rationale at my blog:
>
> http://hcalves.tumblr.com/post/144502395/one-thing-i-dislike-on-gtk-its-the-current-font
>
> The mockup is functional and implemented in Python + Glade. It's available
> at my Launchpad:
>
> https://code.launchpad.net/~hcarvalhoalves/+junk/gtkfontdialog
>
>
> I would appreciate feedback from user and developer viewpoints, and further
> discussion for
> improving the dialog.