GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 83617
window list buttons in panel cannot be made to extend to height of panel
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
Description of Problem: Window list buttons in panel cannot be made to extend to height of panel. Having the buttons extend to edge of screen makes them easier to press: fitts law. Ask the HIG guys about this. Furthermore, this option was in GNOME 1.x Steps to reproduce the problem: 1. Start gnome and make sure there is a panel with a window list applet on it 2. Try to find an option to make the buttons extend to height of panel and edge of screen. There isn't one and there used to be (in GNOME 1.x) Actual Results: - The window buttons are harder less efficient to press because you have to concentrate too much when moving to them with the mouse Expected Results: - There should at least be an option How often does this happen? - Every time
Personally, I think we should, at the very least, reduce the default padding to a smaller value. Perhaps the padding should be turned off, by default?
If the widget the user is trying to press is a shortcut, there should be no gap between the edge of the screen and the widget. Think about it: the user can just "fling" the mouse in the direction of the widget and press the mouse button, knowing that one of its dimensions is infinitely large. Contrast this with a border of _any_ size: the user has to carefully move the mouse at the widget (probably miss, in the case of such short buttons as the window list) and then potentially deal with the annoyance of missing. If you are interested in further reading about why having frequently used menus and buttons sit against the edge of a screen, check out http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~cs5724/g1/glance.html and http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html#fitts's%20law
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 73074 ***