[haiku-commits] Re: haiku: hrev44039 - src/kits/interface headers/os/interface src/preferences/keymap

  • From: Ingo Weinhold <ingo_weinhold@xxxxxx>
  • To: haiku-commits@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:37:27 +0200

On 2012-04-17 at 19:59:39 [+0200], John Scipione <jscipione@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Axel Dörfler 
> <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> > Can you please explain why those two applications should look different
> > from other applications that are part of Haiku? Why should the fact that
> > they resemble real world devices be a good reason?
> 
> In the case of Deskcalc and Keymap the design of the app is made in such a
> way that it resembles an analog of a real world device, specifically a
> desktop calculator and a computer keyboard. These devices tend to have
> slightly rounded buttons on them, so, this stylistic choice was made to
> show the connection more readily.

I'm not sure the same argument applies to Keymap and DeskCalc. The layout 
Keymap displays is explicitly intended to resemble *your* keyboard's layout 
so it easier for you to match the keys. So this part of the application is 
indeed supposed to match a real world device. I don't think the same applies 
to DeskCalc (and why it doesn't use the standard color scheme is unknown to 
me).

That aside, I do find the rounded corners more pleasant to look at for large 
arrays of buttons, i.e. in both cases.

[...]
> CD Player is meant to resemble a real world device as well, in that case
> the front panel of a compact display player. You'll notice that the buttons
> on that app are not standard BButtons either, they are styled in such a way
> so as to emote the purpose of the application. This is a stylistic choice
> made by the author of the program which conveys the idea well to the user.
> 
> Similarly Media Player, which also emulates a real-world device does not
> use standard BButtons either. The buttons are different and the sliders are
> different. In fact that apps looks totally different then any other app.
> Which is a good thing, the design expresses the idea that the author
> intended. The old design even featured rounded corners on it's buttons.

I would think the reason why MediaPlayer looks like it does is less because 
it tries to look like a real world device, but rather to achieve a very 
compact GUI.

> Look at the slider bars in the Media preferences to set your volumes which
> emulate the look of sliders on hardware mixer device and are inconsistent
> with the look of sliders elsewhere in the interface.

Those sliders are actually multi channel sliders. That aside, all these are 
examples of controls for a special purposes (media control buttons, volume 
sliders). I don't mind those looking different from their general purpose 
counterparts, as long as they are used consistently throughout the system 
(and third-party apps).

> Look at Pulse, which emulates the LED displays found on the cases of many
> computers (including the BeBox I am guessing) which looks like no other app.
> 
> Look at the clock app that doesn't use any standard controls at all,
> instead builds it own to emulate another real-world device, in this case, a
> clock.

Both applications are demos, fun applications that we've inherited from BeOS.

> And that is just the examples of apps that I can think of in the base
> system off the top of my head, if I did some research I am sure I could
> find some more examples. And that doesn't include 3rd party apps like
> Cortex and CL-Amp and 3dmiX and SoundPlay and many more that also use
> customized interface elements to suggest the connection to a real world
> device.
>
> Given all these examples it would be inconsistent for me to NOT attempt to
> style these interface elements to look a bit more like the device they are
> meant to emulate. Either that or the developers of the above applications
> all made this same mistake I did.

I do indeed think that is the case. There seems to be some tendency to mimic 
real world devices where they exist. Particularly in case of audio/media/dvd 
players there are undescribable horrors out there, which only allow for the 
implication that someone chose form over function (combined with bad taste).

I don't think it is advantageous to mimic a real world device's look just for 
the sake of it. Mimicking the interface concept -- if it is superior -- is 
another thing.

CU, Ingo

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