On Jul 8, 1:43 pm, johnjbarton <[email protected]> wrote:
> The 1.4 buttons have the following meanings:
> [_] minimize. like the OS, window hides, but the operations continue
> and the ui refreshes when you un-minimize
> [8] (the two window icon), detach. not exactly maximize, but the
> same purpose, to get more screen for the UI
> [X] close, like the OS, window hides and operations stop.
> I think the parallel is pretty close, as close most user interfaces.
Only insofar as "most" user interfaces aren't front ends to background
processes.
The closest analog to Firebug in the regular desktop experience is the
IM client. And every single one of them works like this:
* So long as the application is active (listening for incoming
messages and alerts), there's an icon in a system-provided status area
(system tray, Dock, status bar, etc.), henceforth the "status icon."
* Clicking the status icon brings up the primary interface to the
application, from which the user can originate actions. This interface
(the buddy list) is *independent* of the background process. It's just
a widget, albeit an important one.
* That primary interface has three buttons in its title bar (order
reversed on Macs):
1. Minimize: The window goes away but is kept convenient for
bringing back up, with its own icon separate from the status icon.
2. Maximize: The window gets really big.
3. Close: The window goes away completely, but the application
chugs along in the background.
* If the primary interface is open, clicking the status icon is
usually equivalent to clicking the Close button.
* Through the primary interface or a right-click menu on the status
icon, the user can "deactivate," i.e. quit, the app, and only then
does the background process stop.
Music players like iTunes and WMP work similarly (though "minimize"
and "maximize" are weirder but mostly the same in purpose).
Now, Firebug 1.4.0b7 works like this:
* So long as the application is active (listening for network activity
and breakpoints), the icon in the system status area is brightly
colored.[1] While it's inactive, it's grayed out. (A little different
from the IM client (which has no icon at all when inactive, i.e. quit)
but for good reasons.)
* Clicking the status icon brings up the primary interface (activating
Firebug if needed, which makes sense). This interface *acts*
independently from the background process, which could still happily
be listening for Ajax and checking breakpoints and whatnot if it
weren't onscreen. So the interface is still just a widget as far as
the user is concerned.
* That primary interface has three buttons in its "title bar"
equivalent:
1. Minimize. The window goes away, and that's all. There's nothing
to represent the minimized window on its own.
2. Detach. As you say, not quite the same as Maximize, but
certainly close enough not to surprise anyone.
3. Close / "Off". This *both* closes the primary interface *and*
deactivates the app. This is like quitting AIM whenever you close the
buddy list. It simply makes no sense to anyone who understands the
status icon and how it represents the background process. (Worse, it
records a permanent preference relating to the current page, which
even *further* conflates the UI with the background process.)
* When the primary interface is up, clicking the status icon is
equivalent to clicking the *Minimize* button, which is subtly but
crucially different from clicking the Close button. In fact, it is
very, very easy not to notice the difference because you didn't think
to look directly at the little bug icon to verify (this, of course, is
that cardinal sin of design known as a "mode").
* Firebug can only be deactivated by clicking the Close/Off[2] button,
which as I've said, *should* only close the UI, or by the rather novel
mechanism of *unchecking* "Open firebug" in the primary interface's
main menu.
Now, I've *only* covered what's wrong with the title-bar-like buttons
in comparison to the way most apps work. Things like trying to
remember when the app should be open using quasi-heuristics are
another matter entirely. But I hope you can see how you're very much
designing AGAINST what users expect.
- Luke
[1] Oh, pardon the nitpick while I'm thinking of it: The outline of
the icon should change as well, both for accessibility to colorblind
people and because it'd be easier to distinguish at a glance.
[2] Putting the word "Off" there is nice, but it's much like a door
that says PULL with a bar that looks like it should be pushed. People
are still going to push, not because they're stupid, but because
they're doing other things and can't be bothered to give careful,
deliberate consideration to how to open a door.
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