[ubuntu-art] Fwd: [Usability] few things

Webmaster, Jhnet.co.uk mail at jhnet.co.uk
Wed Jan 30 23:05:23 GMT 2008 

This certainly frustrates me, though I have now learn't to expect it in
places where it happens, it is a very annoying problem and a massive
usability bug for the majority of people who do not hold thier mouse button
down when browsing menus.

On 30/01/2008, Matthew Nuzum <newz at bearfruit.org> wrote:
>
> Hi gang, since the discussion is on themeing, I thought I'd point out this
> very hard-to-spot bug that might bear some consideration as we work towards
> the ubuntu theme.
>
> Basically, if the border around the context menu isn't correct (at least
> 1px it seems) then when you right click somewhere the first item in the menu
> is automatically selected which frustrates some users apparently.
>
> Forwarded conversation
> Subject: Re: [Usability] few things
> ------------------------
>
> From: *Karsten Bräckelmann* <guenther at rudersport.de>
> Date: Jan 29, 2008 6:31 PM
> To: nautilus-list at gnome.org
> Cc: usability at gnome.org
>
>
> On Tue, 2008-01-29 at 12:23 +0100, John Keller wrote:
> > I think I understand: In some apps, the right-click contextual menu
> > appears with its first item selected by default. If you release the
> > right button, the first item is chosen.
>
> Wow. Never noticed this before. More on that later... Just checked with
> the Desktop, and this indeed is the case for Nautilus.
>
> > This seems contrary to the behavior in some - but not all - other Gnome
> > apps, where the contextual menu appears with no item selected. In those
> > apps, releasing the right mouse button leaves the menu open but doesn't
> > execute an option.
> >
> > Even worse, if the menu is near the bottom of the screen, the *last*
> > item is selected, since the menu appears anchored to the lower-left
> > corner instead of the usual upper-left corner. And that doesn't always
> > seem to be automatically executed on mouse release (contrary to the
> > first item, which always seems to be executed).
> >
> > So you're not ever sure what will happen if you click and release the
> > right button without moving the mouse: select item 1 + execute, select
> > item n + execute, select item n + no execute, no item selected + menu
> > remains, ...
>
> Checked with 2.14.x and 2.20.x. Of course, the context menu position
> depends on it's size and the screen border. Means, if you right-click
> near the bottom, the context menu will appear "on top" of the mouse
> pointer. This is consistent for both versions.
>
> However, with 2.14.x, there is *no* context menu item selected after the
> right click. With 2.20.x, there is...  *boggle*
>
>
> Another "however". This depends on the definition of "click".
>
> For a *click* (read: hit the mouse button and get your finger off of
> that button), the context menu stays on screen -- waiting for the user
> to select an item and activate it by a click. This is the case for both
> GNOME versions.
>
> For a *click-and-hold* (read: half a second or thereabout), the context
> menu does *not* stay on screen but disappear after finally releasing the
> mouse button. Again, this is the case for both GNOME versions. [1]
>
> Nothing changed. So far. The *difference* is, that with recent GNOME,
> there is an automatically selected item. Which, in the latter case of
> click-and-hold, is activated on releasing the mouse button...
>
>
> [1] GAR, just found out, that this is not true with the Simple and Thin
>    Ice GTK themes, even on a recent GNOME. The actual difference here
>    appears to be the (top) border of the context menu. A single pixel
>    *does* make a difference...
>
>
> > Not sure what causes this inconsistency (GTK+, theme, user error [e.g.
> > me!]). But I agree, my personal preference would be that no contextual
> > menu item is ever selected by default (emphasis on personal preference).
> >
> > In any case, doesn't seem to be Nautilus-specific. For usability list?
>
> Usability list, yeah, Cc'ed. And the theme designers headquarters. Maybe
> even GTK+, though I don't think so.
>
>  guenther
>
>
> --
> char
> *t="\10pse\0r\0dtu\0. at ghno\x4e\xc8\x79\xf4\xab\x51\x8a\x10\xf4\xf4\xc4";
> main(){ char h,m=h=*t++,*x=t+2*h,c,i,l=*x,s=0; for (i=0;i<l;i++){ i%8?
> c<<=1:
> (c=*++x); c&128 && (s+=h); if (!(h>>=1)||!t[s+h]){ putchar(t[s]);h=m;s=0;
> }}}
>
> _______________________________________________
> Usability mailing list
> Usability at gnome.org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
> ----------
> From: *Benjamin Berg* <benjamin at sipsolutions.net>
> Date: Jan 30, 2008 2:46 AM
> To: Karsten Bräckelmann <guenther at rudersport.de>
> Cc: usability at gnome.org, nautilus-list at gnome.org
>
>
> [SNIP]
> What changed is the GTK+ theme, which does today sets the thickness of
> the menu to 0px. This means that the menu items goes right to the edge
> of the menu.
> I think that the best best solution will be to change the theme so that
> the thickness is not 0px (1px for at least the x or y direction). I'll
> need to check what exactly needs to be done to fix this on the theme
> side, or whether a design change may be necessary.
>
> Benjamin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Usability mailing list
> Usability at gnome.org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
>
> ----------
> From: *Alexander Larsson* <alexl at redhat.com>
> Date: Jan 30, 2008 3:54 AM
> To: Karsten Bräckelmann <guenther at rudersport.de>
> Cc: usability at gnome.org, nautilus-list at gnome.org
>
>
> Menus are popped up with gtk_menu_popup() which takes a callback
> function that lets the app position the menu wherever it wants. However,
> the default one (that most apps use) puts the menu such that its where
> the mouse pointer is (making sure the whole menu is visible if its near
> a screen edge). However, doing this means the mouse pointer will be over
> the first (or last) menu item and thus it will be selected when you
> release.
>
> Maybe gtk+ should be changed to move the menu a few pixels away from the
> cursor.
> ----------
> From: *Ross Burton* <ross at burtonini.com>
> Date: Jan 30, 2008 4:21 AM
> To: Alexander Larsson <alexl at redhat.com>
> Cc: usability at gnome.org, Karsten Bräckelmann <guenther at rudersport.de>,
> nautilus-list at gnome.org
>
>
> For me, the popups are a few pixels away from the pointer.  I've just
> checked this in Nautilus, evolution, gnome-terminal, epiphany and
> gossip.  The popup menu corner is positioned at the cursor, but there is
> a few pixels of padding around the menu itself.
>
> Ross
> --
> Ross Burton                                 mail: ross at burtonini.com
>                                          jabber: ross at burtonini.com
>                                     www: http://www.burtonini.com./
>  PGP Fingerprint: 1A21 F5B0 D8D0 CFE3 81D4 E25A 2D09 E447 D0B4 33DF
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Usability at gnome.org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
>
>
>
>
> --
> Matthew Nuzum
> newz2000 on freenode
> --
> ubuntu-art mailing list
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>
>
>
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