[Bug 506659] [NEW] unpredictable, confusing accounts popup upon clicking spinner widget beside status box

[Dylan McCall]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: empathy

In Empathy, there is a spinner widget beside the account status box.
Currently, clicking this widget causes the Accounts dialog box to
appear. There are some problems with this design:

 * There is no indication that the widget is clickable. (No prelight).
 * The dialog opens when the button is pressed, not when it is released. This is not consistent with the rest of GNOME.
 * The widget is often completely invisible!
 * Spinner widgets are not meant to be buttons.

However, before anyone jumps on an instant removal, I would like to
point out what I think is logic in this design :)

The button is placed beside the button to set status, for the purpose of
choosing which accounts the user is logged in to (and, therefore, that
the status change impacts). I think this is a good idea, and the design
should be kept somewhat intact. What needs to change is that the window
which immediately appears is not expected and is very bulky for the
task.

I recommend that the button be replaced with a more task-specific
dropdown menu where the user can choose to disable / enable certain
accounts in a single click. An option could be placed at the bottom of
the menu to open the full accounts dialog to further configure accounts.

** Affects: empathy (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
unpredictable, confusing accounts popup upon clicking spinner widget beside status box
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/506659
You received this bug notification because you are a member of
Telepathy, which is subscribed to empathy in ubuntu.