3 ms·

Are there any renderings of what he's describing here?

by pkulak 17y ago

wmf 17y ago
(I'm barely resisting the urge to post an OS X screen shot.) It's like http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/ http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/ but modified to normally display the window title and only display menus on mouseover (hello discoverability).
- rbanffy 17y ago
  A screenshot of a Lisa would do nicely too. I am happy this is only for the netbook version. It's a usability nightmare when you have a 30" monitor (or a couple big ones). Actually, with two monitors, OSX becomes pretty disorienting.
  - tensor 17y ago
    I do not find this to be true at all. But to each his own.
    - rbanffy 17y ago
      I do indeed prefer menus and toolbars to be close to the information I am manipulating. The one contextual menu bar on the top of the screen made a lot of sense on the early days of the Lisa and the Mac, but unless you get used to keyboard shortcuts, it does not make a lot of sense to move your mouse to monitor 1 when what you want to do is with something in a window on monitor 2 (or 3). It doesn't bother me too much when I am running a couple terminals and Emacs, or working on a spreadsheet on Google docs, but it would drive me crazy if I had to do it with Word. Specially with two or more 24+ inch screens. I am curious as to how do you deal with this situation. Keyboard shortcuts or moving the mouse between monitors? How frequent is each situation?
    - ghshephard 17y ago
      Do you have two large monitors? I find OS X so poorly adapted to my 30" + 27" Monitor, that I frequently find myself just using my 17" MacBook Pro - it's not as much real estate, but the large monitor is so clumsy, that, except in very specific tasks where I need to have multiple windows going simultaneously so I can see tasks happening at the same time, I get very little extra value, and sometimes _lose_ productivity from having to move my mouse Waaaay over to the first screen from something that might be (literally) feet away. It's a little better with two 24" monitors.
  - hammerdr 17y ago
    Usability metrics and studies disagree with you. It's a pretty basic usability heuristic that states click targets on the edge of the screen are much more usable than floating targets.
    - rbanffy 17y ago
      OTOH, click targets on the wrong screen are torture. I spend all my desk time on a multi-screen setup, with the built-in screen and a big monitor on its side. Having program launchers and a taskbar (or dock) on a specific screen is not as bad, but having to click on something on screen 1 to do something with a window on screen 2 is just painful.

Are there any renderings of what he's describing here?

by pkulak 17y ago

Are there any renderings of what he's describing here?

wmf 17y ago

(I'm barely resisting the urge to post an OS X screen shot.) It's like http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/ http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/ but modified to normally display the window title and only display menus on mouseover (hello discoverability).

rbanffy 17y ago
A screenshot of a Lisa would do nicely too. I am happy this is only for the netbook version. It's a usability nightmare when you have a 30" monitor (or a couple big ones). Actually, with two monitors, OSX becomes pretty disorienting.
- tensor 17y ago
  I do not find this to be true at all. But to each his own.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    I do indeed prefer menus and toolbars to be close to the information I am manipulating. The one contextual menu bar on the top of the screen made a lot of sense on the early days of the Lisa and the Mac, but unless you get used to keyboard shortcuts, it does not make a lot of sense to move your mouse to monitor 1 when what you want to do is with something in a window on monitor 2 (or 3). It doesn't bother me too much when I am running a couple terminals and Emacs, or working on a spreadsheet on Google docs, but it would drive me crazy if I had to do it with Word. Specially with two or more 24+ inch screens. I am curious as to how do you deal with this situation. Keyboard shortcuts or moving the mouse between monitors? How frequent is each situation?
  - ghshephard 17y ago
    Do you have two large monitors? I find OS X so poorly adapted to my 30" + 27" Monitor, that I frequently find myself just using my 17" MacBook Pro - it's not as much real estate, but the large monitor is so clumsy, that, except in very specific tasks where I need to have multiple windows going simultaneously so I can see tasks happening at the same time, I get very little extra value, and sometimes _lose_ productivity from having to move my mouse Waaaay over to the first screen from something that might be (literally) feet away. It's a little better with two 24" monitors.
- hammerdr 17y ago
  Usability metrics and studies disagree with you. It's a pretty basic usability heuristic that states click targets on the edge of the screen are much more usable than floating targets.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    OTOH, click targets on the wrong screen are torture. I spend all my desk time on a multi-screen setup, with the built-in screen and a big monitor on its side. Having program launchers and a taskbar (or dock) on a specific screen is not as bad, but having to click on something on screen 1 to do something with a window on screen 2 is just painful.