GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 330584
Unclear how to dismiss the window
Last modified: 2006-03-04 02:46:36 UTC
If you search for a word in the applet, a little window appears underneath the applet, however when using a small panel, it is unclear (unless you look really closely) how to remove hide the window. I spent quite a while clicking around and trying various things until I realised that the icon was in fact a button ....
I concur. I had a little fight with the applet about that, too
the toggle button has a tooltip, an ATK description and its function is explained in the user's manual. apart from that, I really don't know how to make its function clearer. feel free to REOPEN with a solution not involving a massive re-write of the applet, and which is valid for the clock applet too - since it uses a similar toggle button.
I would propose to at least make ESC work, like it does for the clock applet... It might also help a little bit to show a different icon (opened book ?) when the button is toggled on, since icon-only toggle buttons are not very easy to spot.
I'll add the ESC accelerator in the next release - not sure if it'd require an autorization from the documentation team, since it should be mentioned on the user's manual too. as for the icon: I've already requested a new icon for the dictionary, as the "book" is not that clear; I'll poke our artists again.
I don't think comparing the 2 applets is really a particularly valid comparison, the user interacts with them in totally different manners. - The clock is about 48 pixels minimum width, the dictionary icon is 16 pixels - The user interacts with the clock by clicking the time, and clicking again to dismiss it, with the dictionary appplet you show the window using Enter after typing in a word, and dismiss it with a click. However allowing Escape would be good - it might be worth looking at it for this release, as the only way to get rid of it at the moment is with the mouse which isn't particuarly friendly for people who struggle to use mice ...
Escape-for-dismissal has been added to HEAD. we are ten days from 2.14: I'll ask the release team if this can be added to the soon-to-be stable branch.
Created attachment 60541 [details] [review] patch adding Escape support attaching the patch for reference
Fixed also in gnome-2-14. I'm releasing a new version of gnome-utils with the fix.