Thorsten Wilms wrote: > On Sun, Feb 18, 2007 at 07:54:45PM -0500, Jacob Beauregard wrote: > > >> The Pathetic State of the GNU/Linux Desktop >> > > Pathetic is quite a strong word. Such a broad and unfounded > claim shows a lack or respect to all the hard work that went > into current offerings. It is no at all constructive. > > I only said that to catch your attention. > >> There is no excuse for a blind person not to >> be able to use a mouse, it's just that nobody has made this available to >> them. There's no excuse that a blind person has to use a long-winded >> screen reader when they're tabbing through a panel or their desktop. >> > > Maybe I'm missing something ... but explain to me how a blind user > is supposed to use a mouse, a device where you have to rely on visual > feedback? > > Who said that you have to rely on visual feedback to use a mouse? There could always be a sound to describe where I am on the screen. > >> I also mentioned long-winded screen readers >> > > You like to prepend long-winded screenreaders. Are there screenreaders > that are not long-winded? How can a non-visual user interface be not > long-winded, given that audio and tactile interfaces have to serial? > Ok, I could imagine 'broadband' tactile interfaces, but the hardware > would be damn expensive. > What you fail to interpret is that a worded description is not the only way to identify something using audio, much in the same way we don't rely on text when using icons. > > >> One thing I notice about all of these applications using tabs, usually >> they have varying functionality. Some let you drag and drop a tab and >> have it create a new window, or drag a tab to another tab bar of the >> same application and it will merge into that window. Some have X >> buttons, some don't. Some applications like hiding the tabs if there's >> only one open. Tabs can be easily compared to window lists. I'll tell >> you what I see with this, a huge potential gain for functionality and >> interoperability. >> > > Well, I would like to see a single implementation of tabs. Or at > least consistent behaviour everywhere. > > Then we agree here for the most part. > > >> First, since tabs with X buttons on them have proved usable and >> successful, why not have the functionality to add the -[]X stuff to the >> task bar? The only difference between the task bar and a tab bar is that >> the task bar generally handles multitasking whereas a tab bar generally >> organizes several things that aren't all being used at once. >> > > X buttons would take space away from the labels. > They would likely increase the time it takes to 'read' the task bar. > Task bar entries are associated with windows. Windows that have X buttons. > Closing is accessible via right-click on a task bar item. > Try taking into mind Mozilla's reasoning to put individual X buttons on the tabs of Firefox. No, they didn't have those initially. > > >> Secondly, why in the world haven't all applications come together on the >> dragging a tab out opens that tab in a new window, and dragging a tab >> back in merges it into the current window, and closes its own? One >> reason that people generally don't like tabs is that it gets into the >> way of their multitasking, where this kind of feature overcomes that, >> giving more power to the user. >> > > While I agree that being able to pull tabs out and in would be nice, > it's new to me that people generally don't like tabs. I think tabs > have appeared exactly there where users prefer them over windows and > do not miss the characteristics of windows much (separate windows > having there own size and location, showing/hiding, moving between > worksapces). > Let's say I'm using Gaim and I want to view two conversations side-by-side. It could be the same for two different websites, chat rooms, etc. > > >> P.S. And now I will mention that this entire letter is stream of >> consciousness, so good luck reading it. >> > > Yeah, the way to go to show good manners and respect for your readers. > Like, do you really want to communicate something else except some > vague frustration? > > Wow, this response is the least constructive I've received. A lot of the KDE people have been focused on many of the problems I've mentioned here for quite some time.
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