Linux GUI Question

[tavilach]

A few weeks ago I was using a Red Hat Linux machine, and I noticed something minor that I didn't like. First, let me describe Fitt's Law (I learned about it on XvsXP.com)...

http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html

Fitt's Law: The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.

While at first glance, this law might seem patently obvious, it is one of the most ignored principles in design. Fitts's law dictates the Macintosh pull-down menu acquisition should be approximately five times faster than Windows menu acquisition, and this is proven out. Fitt's law dictates that the windows task bar will constantly and unnecessarily get in people's way, and this is proven out. Fitt's law indicates that the most quickly accessed targets on any computer display are the four corners of the screen, because of their pinning action, and yet they seem to be avoided at all costs by designers.

Use large objects for important functions (Big buttons are faster).

Use the pinning actions of the sides, bottom, top, and corners of your display: A single-row toolbar with tool icons that "bleed" into the edges of the display will be many times faster than a double row of icons with a carefully-applied one-pixel non-clickable edge along the side of the display.

Okay, so what did I notice about the Red Hat that piqued me so much? Well, I moved my mouse to the right-hand corner of the screen to close Mozilla, but I realized there wasn't that "bleeding" to the edge of the screen that Mac OS and Windows have (i.e., the top-right pixel wasn't clickable...only the actual button was clickable).

To see what I mean, if you are using XP (don't know about the others), move your mouse all the way to the top-right corner of the screen (unless AIM is there, in which case you should minimize it...) when you have a window maximized. Click, and you will notice that even though your mouse isn't on the actual button, the window still closes.

So....

I think I was using Gnome...would KDE have this same problem? (Or if I was using KDE, would Gnome have this problem?) Is the problem part of Gnome itself or just the Gnome theme? Is it part of Red Hat or the desktop environment?

If you have Gnome or KDE, can you please test this?...or if you know the answer to my questions, can you explain? Thanks!

 

[shan]

I think that it could be in the MetaCity theme, (window border) or it could be in the actuall application i really don't care to much about that because i have a toolbar on the top of my desktop to let me have easy access to alot of things....

 

[tavilach]

I found a screenshot of a newly installed Red Hat:
http://www.gamingin3d.com/reviews/redhat8/screen2.gif

That was the theme that the computer I used was set to...

Oh, and another shot of it is:
http://www.joshuaeichorn.com/screenshots/mysetup/Screenshot.jpg

So...is that KDE or Gnome? And maybe you can tell me more now that you SEE the pictures .

 

[Apokalipse]

it's not really much of a problem is it? if you can't click on a button one pixel away from it

 

[þÄ®âÐÖx]

I find this to be pretty annoying myself.. I always expect to be able to zoom up to the top right corner and close a window, but I remeber in RedHat 8 it didn't seem to work. It might just be the theme or something, but I know I don't have this problem in Slackware 9.

 

[tavilach]

it's not really much of a problem is it? if you can't click on a button one pixel away from it

The point, as Paradox and I have been trying to say, is that you sometimes want to quickly "zoom" your mouse to the top and click...and if you do that, you'll hit the empty pixel ...

 

[shan]

Alt-F4!!!

 

[tavilach]

I do use Alt-F4, but this still bugs me...it also applies to the maximize and minimize buttons (you "zoom" your mouse to the top...not the top-cornor, but still the top).