GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 527754
Show current value in window list
Last modified: 2018-05-22 11:41:41 UTC
Originally opened in Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/bugs/216425 ------- If I have several instances of Firefox open on different websites and minimize them I can still tell them apart on the Gnome Panel because Firefox displays the title/heading of each webpage on the window title bar. The calculator app only just shows its name beside the icon, it never changes. I'd like to be able to open any number of calculators, work with them, and still be able to reference their final values if the calculator windows are hidden under other applications. The calculator icon would still be there, it would just be followed by a numeric value.
Created attachment 166157 [details] [review] Displaying calculator's current value on the titlebar
I'm not so sure about this. The Gnome HIG states, in no uncertain terms, that the title of the calculator should be Calculator. (see http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/2.32/windows-primary.html.en#primary-window-titles example 3.2 and the previous bullet point). If we were to do this anyway, I wouldn't want to do like in Salah's patch and put everything from the display into the title bar, as I always find it distracting when I type something, and it shows up both where I'm typing, in the window title, and in the panel. But I'm still not sure that this bug should be fixed, as I'm not sure the described use case is in scope for gcalctool.
The Gnome HIG also states right below the section stating that Calculator window's title should be Calculator: "Do not place version numbers, company names, or other information that is of no immediate use to the user in the window title. These consume space, making titles in limited spaces such as the system window list less useful, and add more text the user has to scan to find useful information.". 1. "Do not place ... other information that is of no immediate use to the user in the window title" - seeing the last result value can be indeed of immediate use of the user. 2. "Add more text the user has to scan to find useful information" - A title would look like "0123456789 - Calculator", if ellipsized, it would become something like "0123456789 - Calc..." but the icon would still be visible, and the user would see part of the application name and the last result, or to go even further, it could show only the last result, and the icon and the result contain enough information for a user to know what that window is for, just as in case of document-based applications the name of the document is enough. So this would not increase the amount of text to be scanned.
As a possible solution I would change the patch to put the last result in the window title on window focus lost and window minimize for the reason Robin mentioned - text appearing in three places while typing something is distracting indeed.
Created attachment 174174 [details] [review] Patch to show the last result in the title whe focus is lost On window focus lost, the last result is shown in the title (e.g. "15 - Calculator"), and on window focus gained, the title is reverted to the default "Calculator"
Adding Allan Day to provide a bit of design feedback here as: * gnome-calculator is not a document-based application, so based on the current HIG, the window title should be the application name * however, if we consider calculations "documents", the last result can be of immediate use for the user, so this might be ok to show in the window title.
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message -- This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity. You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator/issues/1.