GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 697498
Adwaita's representation of GTK+ GtkSwitch should allow to see the value through the button
Last modified: 2014-07-02 17:47:36 UTC
Created attachment 240892 [details] mockup (by Chris Norström) To get rid of one of the biggest usability issues of the Gtk Switch widget, it would be great if we would show the value through the sliding button. For instance, instead of [ OFF ( )] We would have: [ OFF ( ON )] See also: http://www.chrisnorstrom.com/2012/11/invention-multiple-choice-windowed-slider-ui/ Attaching one of the most relevant mockups from that link to this bug report (for future-proofness).
I see what you mean, but doing this means flipping the switch logic (the off state is [ OFF ( )] for us), not something doable by the theme.
While an interesting concept, the current switch has been well established. Maybe we'll return to this sometime in the future.
The interaction with GtkSwitch as represented in Adwaita has been unchanged since its inception in 2011; you could say it is "established" but with all respect that does not mean it is good. 50 people expressing their concern about the usability problem/insufficient visual clarity of GtkSwitch is not something we can ignore: http://jeff.ecchi.ca/blog/2011/03/13/on-gtkswitch/ If this requires changes in GTK+, then feel free to make this depend on another bug report, but by all means please do not close this ticket because it does represent a usability flaw in Adwaita. And it is also in the dependency chain of bug #657473.
Having both ON and OFF shown at the same time is equivalent to not having either. Which is what ios does now. Maybe we can do that instead.
(In reply to comment #4) > Having both ON and OFF shown at the same time is equivalent to not having > either. Which is what ios does now. Maybe we can do that instead. It would also be useful to have a way to avoid the colour changing, as seen in those radio switches: https://gitorious.org/gnome-design/gnome-design/source/6a9d4a9d380f4416fe0131c2ee094625aed87ccf:mockups/theming/switches.png (this is currently possible, but only through a hack)
Bug 725648 is relevant. Nowadays, switches can indicate both on/off and active/inactive at the same time. This is useful in cases where the state of the switch and what it controls are out of alignment. For example, you could turn on bluetooth but it might take 3/4 seconds to actually activate. It is helpful to indicate this status change in the control itself, both so the user has adequate feedback to inform their actions, and to reinforce the sense that the control is directly coupled to whatever it is that it is controlling. Another example might be a background service that might be enabled but not running for some reason. Media sharing is one of these - the service might be enabled, but not running because you are on an untrusted network. In this case, a switch that looks on and active would be misleading - the service is enabled, but not actually running.
There is earlier discussion in bug 644658. Would this one be considered a duplicate? By the way, I remember Jasper made these html prototypes of a very similar concept some time ago: http://magcius.mecheye.net/random/switch-3/ http://magcius.mecheye.net/random/switch-2/
@António: actually, since bug #644658 is filed against GTK+, might as well mark it as part of the dependency chain rather than a duplicate, and it'll be easier to track this way, I think. We just saved the trouble of filing it in GTK :)
Adwaita is gtk *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 644658 ***