[linux-audio-dev] While we're talking about lack of responses :-)

[Ivica Bukvic]

Thanks for your reply!

Personally, I am rather against the Apple's layout and "usability ideas"
(for that matter I am also against the KDE's outdated "usability
guidelines" as well) since it has proven to be nothing but a nightmare
for the computer illiterate (or barely literate) students whom I taught
in the past. One of the recurring issues is the persistent toolbar on
the top (which arguably is easier to hit since it is positioned at the
edge of the screen) that changes as you focus onto different apps.
Almost every new user figures that the app is closed when the window is
closed (which then would bring me to conclusion that this is the way
things should be) and so I always have crashing (OS 9) machines in my
studio due to fact that they run 5-10 apps at the same time in the
background while trying to open a new one (or even better, wondering
while the app is not opening when in fact it is already open and the new
window needs to be opened).

Other gripe is that some menus need to be selected by holding the mouse
button and releasing it when the pointer is above the option -- what if
your hand slips and you accidentally press the wrong option? Such as
slip-up in apps that have 1-level undo could prove to be a real
nuisance.

Other issues are purely performance-based. Aqua GUI, apart from being
very attractive (although we could argue that one gets tired of it
rather easy and soon it becomes somewhat cumbersome, especially on the
interleaved LCD screens where its horizontal-line pattern creates an
eye-straining shimmer effect) is a humongous resource hog. If you ever
try to resize a window with a complex layout, you'll see what I mean.

What we could learn from Apple, though, is how far-reaching eye-candy
can be. This is definitely something worth looking into. Especially now
that the libsvg has finally gotten so optimized that you can resize
vectorized icons/images in real-time without eating too many cpu cycles.

>From what I've seen on the links you've given it seems that focusing
widgets and keyboard accelerators are a good thing (which makes me feel
good since my app has already both :-)

Ico

Great suggestions nonetheless, keep them coming!