Re: Missing features.

>
> On 10/7/06, Alan Horkan <horkana@maths.tcd.ie> wrote:
>> On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 msevior@physics.unimelb.edu.au wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> > HI Everyone,
>> > I miss a few features from the current set of toolbars.
>> >
>> > 1. Bullets and numbering
>> > 2. Underlines
>> > 3. Paragraph indent and unindent
>> >
>> > Can we find a way to put these back in the second or fourth toolbar?
>> >
>> > I have lots of pixels on my displays and I'm not afraid to use them
>> :-)
>
> I have a patch that puts all the removed buttons into the Table
> toolbar, which has lots of space. Is that an acceptable short term
> solution for you?

I agree there is lots of space there, this is reasonable for the time being.

I guess it is reasonable to retarget AbiWord at non-power users, for which
a simplified interface would be a selling point. I'm conflicted though
because I like lots of toolbar buttons and I find them very useful. I
suspect that many loyal AbiWord users would feel the same.

> My intention is still to load the toolbar layout (maybe also menus)
> from gtk ui manager style files, that would allow for fine grained
> control.
>

This works for Unix but we also need a solution for Windows and OSX that
provides sane defaults.

>> This is great but I was really hoping since so much good work has gone
>> inot making abiword customisable that there would be an option to choose
>> "Legacy Layout" and allow users to stick with the old layout.
>> (Sometimes
>> it is better the devil you know, and how are we to insist users learn
>> something new if the old Abiword interface worked well enough for them.)
>

While I like the idea of having a simple button that reverts AbiWord to
it's old layout (because I'm very comfortable with it), having a
preference in the options to alter the layout strikes me a poor decision
from a UI perspective.

If we're trying to come up with a simple interface having an option to
change it could be confusing to 95% of users. At one stage I was impressed
with MS Word's infinitely customizable interface, I now think it is a UI
disaster, as is hiding menu items beneath those arrows. Most users of MS
Word spend their days fighting it to make it do what they want.

Cheers

Martin
Received on Sun Oct 8 08:45:19 2006