Re: [lmi] Improved XRC layout

[Vadim Zeitlin]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2015 19:14:02 +0000 Greg Chicares <address@hidden> wrote:

GC> Never heard of "cue banners". IMO, desktop GUIs reached their height of
GC> perfection around 1990.

 I think no huge progress in the efficiency of the UI for the advanced
users has been made since then, but the UIs have definitely become more
friendly for the novices, which is not always a bad thing as even experts
can be overwhelmed when confronted with an unfamiliar application.

GC> > Modern UIs typically tend to have some kind of
GC> > discoverable elements, e.g. those small "(i)" buttons near the controls
GC> > that show the help text in a popup when clicked
GC> 
GC> Never seen any such thing. Why clutter the screen with lots of little 
buttons

 One of the most noticeable differences BTW is that "modern" GUIs use a lot
more blank space.

GC> when you can just tab to a field and press Shift-F1? (I'm just saying.)

 It's not discoverable. I don't have any statistics but if you can allow
lmi to record them, it could be quite interesting to know how many of its
(presumably advanced) users use keyboard shortcuts.

 Anyhow, just to finish with the hints: I don't think they can replace
"help" strings neither. IMHO hints work best as clarifications/additional
details when the meaning of the field is already roughly clear to the user.
E.g. a "login" field could have a hint of the form "address@hidden" which
would make it clear that the expected login is an email and not just the
personal name part of it. A currency amount field could have a hint of
"$123.45" to show the expected format. And so on.

GC> Come to think of it, this sort of impasse arises so often in software
GC> development--and the blues--and arguably even in literature--that you'd
GC> think the Greeks would have a word for it...

 A referendum?
VZ