On 8 Feb 2002, Jean-Marc Lasgouttes wrote:
> >>>>> "michael" == michael schmitt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> michael> Hi, I rather doubt that you need another opinion but here it
> michael> comes. (Actually three opinions :-)
>
> michael> 1. Please don't add any buttons (whatever they are called) to
> michael> the dialogs (and remove the existing new "help" buttons) It
> michael> makes the dialog bigger and more complex; moreover, I can't
> michael> imagine a user that needs a per-dialog tooltip setting;
> michael> finally, you can add tooltips without having to redesign the
> michael> dialogs (safer, easier)
>
> I think I agree with that, in fact. Keep things simple.
Me too. :-)
> michael> 2. Add an option to the preferences dialog with "full"
> michael> tooltips activated. -> Newbies will get full support, experts
> michael> can deactivate them with just a few strokes once for the
> michael> whole life-time.
>
> I'm not sure about this one. Maybe off by default, ut with an easy way
> (menu, toolbar) to turn it on.
If we really must have tooltips (I much prefer the help text
arrangement in the preferences dialog although toolbars do need them)
then they should be shipped on by default. Remember, goldfish are
users too and newbies aren't going to know their way around to turn
the thing on -- they will more than likely think such a facility
doesn't exist. Most computer literate users will quickly find the
Edit->Preferences menu entry and can then easily turn it off.
What might work better is to borrow an idea from WPrefs.app from
Window Maker and offer a few choices for tooltips such as:
X Show ballon text for...
X all dialog controls
X toolbar buttons
X buttons with images in dialogs
or something like that so that tooltips can be controlled a bit
better. They can be turned off completely with one click on the
first "X" or fine tuned so that only toolbar items get tooltips.
> michael> 3. Tooltips that repeat what is already listed in the dialog
> michael> are useless - agreed. However, a default tooltip "No info
> michael> available" would be nice because sometimes you are not sure
> michael> whether there is really no info or you just did not hit the
> michael> right spot with the mouse.
>
> I don't think I really like that...
I know I don't like that.
> A better approach would be to have tooltip appear also when you are
> over the label of a control, not only the actual control. Is that
> actually possible?
Not sure. Some button types seem to respond to mouse-over label while
others don't so I suspect that in general we're screwed.
Allan. (ARRae)
