[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-28 Thread Claudius Ellsel
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

--- Comment #19 from Claudius Ellsel  ---
Created attachment 131986
  --> https://bugs.kde.org/attachment.cgi?id=131986=edit
Website using the same style as "Plasma panel"

Today by accident I saw a webpage using the "Plasma" style for that kind of
highlighting: https://ant.design/docs/react/introduce. Adding as attachement
for the sake of completeness.

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-28 Thread Claudius Ellsel
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

--- Comment #18 from Claudius Ellsel  ---
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #17)
> > Other arguments include that there might be good other reasons why the
> > opposite style is used that extensively and that "Plasma" itself uses this
> > opposite style for the highlight of list (?) items - see the attachment.
> If we don't know the reason, then we'd be blindly copying them on the
> assumption that they're right and we're wrong. Without concrete evidence
> that it is actually better, "everyone else is doing it" isn't a valid reason.

It would be some kind of educated guessing, so not exactly blindly. But I
totally understand your point and that is why I didn't want to present it to
you as an argument in the first place (I hope I made that clear).

You did not address the argument that it is currently proposed to use that
style for selecting things in sidebars like dolphin for Breeze.

> (In reply to Claudius Ellsel from comment #16)
> > The main argument was that users are probably accustomed to the opposite
> > style, yes.
> Got it. So this would be the "user familiarity" argument.
> 
> 
> While there is an inherent Jakob's Law argument that consistency with what
> people are familiar with is good, this only goes so far; it cannot be taken
> to its logical conclusion that even minor aesthetic choices must be copied,
> or else we will be drawn to copy 100% of Windows or Android or whatever just
> because it's probably what everyone else is familiar with. This makes us a
> cheap and inferior copy and there is no reason not to simply use the
> original instead. See also
> https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Design/Lessons_Learned#Copying_Apple

Understood. I'd argue that it is not about copying them, but to use the common
style for selection highlighting which is not only used by Windows, but all
over the place as I hopefully layed out quite exhaustively. So stating this
would result in a copy of any specific thing is not justified by that
argumentation I think. To me this still feels like some design principle and
not just an aesthetic choice (but that are my feelings not really backed by
hard facts). Arguing that this is some minor thing might be true, though.

> I don't think this very minor aesthetic thing is worth changing. If you
> disagree and prefer the opposite style where the indicator bar is far from
> the content area rather than close to it, you're welcome to create a Plasma
> theme that does so. That's why we have theming: so that people who don't
> agree with the default aesthetic choices can self-satisfy. Who knows, maybe
> it will be so popular that lots of people will start using it and distros
> will ship it by default and we'll be encouraged to accept the change.
> Stranger things have happened. :)

I don't like moving away from upstream in general. My approach is to improve
upstream. But I see that this is not broadly seen as an improvement, fair
enough. On a side note (not sure whether this is true it seems to be only a
rough eastimation), a person on your blog complaining about this stated that
99% of Plasma themes have the highlight on the other side than the default.

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Nate Graham
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

Nate Graham  changed:

   What|Removed |Added

 Resolution|--- |INTENTIONAL
 Status|REPORTED|RESOLVED

--- Comment #17 from Nate Graham  ---
> Other arguments include that there might be good other reasons why the
> opposite style is used that extensively and that "Plasma" itself uses this
> opposite style for the highlight of list (?) items - see the attachment.
If we don't know the reason, then we'd be blindly copying them on the
assumption that they're right and we're wrong. Without concrete evidence that
it is actually better, "everyone else is doing it" isn't a valid reason.


(In reply to Claudius Ellsel from comment #16)
> The main argument was that users are probably accustomed to the opposite
> style, yes.
Got it. So this would be the "user familiarity" argument.


While there is an inherent Jakob's Law argument that consistency with what
people are familiar with is good, this only goes so far; it cannot be taken to
its logical conclusion that even minor aesthetic choices must be copied, or
else we will be drawn to copy 100% of Windows or Android or whatever just
because it's probably what everyone else is familiar with. This makes us a
cheap and inferior copy and there is no reason not to simply use the original
instead. See also
https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Design/Lessons_Learned#Copying_Apple

I don't think this very minor aesthetic thing is worth changing. If you
disagree and prefer the opposite style where the indicator bar is far from the
content area rather than close to it, you're welcome to create a Plasma theme
that does so. That's why we have theming: so that people who don't agree with
the default aesthetic choices can self-satisfy. Who knows, maybe it will be so
popular that lots of people will start using it and distros will ship it by
default and we'll be encouraged to accept the change. Stranger things have
happened. :)

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Claudius Ellsel
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

Claudius Ellsel  changed:

   What|Removed |Added

 Resolution|WAITINGFORINFO  |---
 Status|NEEDSINFO   |REPORTED

--- Comment #16 from Claudius Ellsel  ---
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #15)
> So in essence, you suspect that other platforms are doing it differently for
> good reasons, even if you don't know what those reasons are, and that
> accordingly, users are accustomed to the opposite style, rather than ours.
> 
> Is that accurate?

The main argument was that users are probably accustomed to the opposite style,
yes.

Other arguments include that there might be good other reasons why the opposite
style is used that extensively and that "Plasma" itself uses this opposite
style for the highlight of list (?) items - see the attachment.

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Nate Graham
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

Nate Graham  changed:

   What|Removed |Added

 Status|REPORTED|NEEDSINFO
 Resolution|--- |WAITINGFORINFO

--- Comment #15 from Nate Graham  ---
So in essence, you suspect that other platforms are doing it differently for
good reasons, even if you don't know what those reasons are, and that
accordingly, users are accustomed to the opposite style, rather than ours.

Is that accurate?

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Claudius Ellsel
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

Claudius Ellsel  changed:

   What|Removed |Added

 Resolution|WAITINGFORINFO  |---
 Status|NEEDSINFO   |REPORTED

--- Comment #14 from Claudius Ellsel  ---
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #13)
> So if there is no problem to be solved why should we change it?

I think there is a problem. Normally the highlight indicator tends to be the
opposite side of the content. That way people know where the content is. It is
a visual clue. If it is not thought as a clue, people probably learn to
interpret it that way anyway. At least I did. And there are other people
stating that it does not feel "natural" to them the way it is on KDE. But that
does not say much. Either they also expect indicators being used in a different
way because it is a common practice or that is just their personal preference.

> I get that you want the indicator to be located in the place where it is
> located in other platforms. But *why?* Simply because it's a good thing to
> be consistent with what other platforms are doing? Or are there any other
> reasons?

As I outlined above, I think there is a chance people are taking those
indicators as visual clues.

One other thing not counting as an argument is that probably there is a reason
why designers tend to use those indicators the way they use them. Maybe the
indicator acts like a wall repelling the eye and pointing it to the content on
the opposite side or something like that. They might also have done user
studies to find out what users prefer. But that is all just speculating, so I
don't expect you to address those concerns.

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Nate Graham
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

--- Comment #13 from Nate Graham  ---
So if there is no problem to be solved why should we change it?

I get that you want the indicator to be located in the place where it is
located in other platforms. But *why?* Simply because it's a good thing to be
consistent with what other platforms are doing? Or are there any other reasons?

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Claudius Ellsel
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

--- Comment #12 from Claudius Ellsel  ---
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #11)
> Let's get one thing clear: this is no way a usability thing; the
> *positioning* of the indicator being closer to the content or farther from
> the content is purely aesthetic.

This is only your interpretation. Please don't present it like a fact. Also I
did not say it has to do with usability, but that it does likely not feel
natural to users.

> And then you provide visual examples from Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu,
> showing that the indicator (which is sometimes a line, and sometimes a dot)
> is farther from the content.

See the attachements. I also gave examples from a planned KDE design and GitLab
for vertical bars. There are many more.

> But is there actually a usability problem here?

Well above you said "no way".

Also note I did not mark it as a bug, but as "wishlist".

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[plasmashell] [Bug 427030] Move Taskmanager background highlight bar to the opposite side

2020-09-27 Thread Nate Graham
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=427030

Nate Graham  changed:

   What|Removed |Added

Product|Breeze  |plasmashell
   Assignee|plasma-b...@kde.org |visual-des...@kde.org
  Component|general |Theme - Breeze
   Target Milestone|--- |1.0
 Resolution|--- |WAITINGFORINFO
 Status|REPORTED|NEEDSINFO
Version|unspecified |5.19.5
 CC||n...@kde.org,
   ||plasma-b...@kde.org

--- Comment #11 from Nate Graham  ---
Let's get one thing clear: this is no way a usability thing; the *positioning*
of the indicator being closer to the content or farther from the content is
purely aesthetic. It appears that you are objecting to the
closer-to-the-content positioning on the basis that:

"This is not consistent with any other UI I can think of."

"It does not feel natural."

"Users don't expect such bars pointing towards content."

And then you provide visual examples from Windows, macOS, and Ubuntu, showing
that the indicator (which is sometimes a line, and sometimes a dot) is farther
from the content.

If a difference from other platforms poses a usability problem, then it is
worth addressing. But is there actually a usability problem here? This seems
like a purely aesthetic thing to me. So other than simply being different from
what other platforms do, is there actually a *problem* here?

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