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)...
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!
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!