[openbox] HCI-based suggestions for minor feature additions and behaviour updates

Clay Barnes clay at hci-matters.com
Fri Feb 1 12:49:25 EST 2008


On 10:09 Fri 01 Feb     , Mikael Magnusson wrote:
> On Fri, 1 Feb 2008, Clay Barnes wrote:
>
>> On 07:52 Fri 01 Feb     , Mikael Magnusson wrote:
>>> On Thu, 31 Jan 2008, Clay Barnes wrote:
>>>
>>>> I've been playing with the new release of of OB (quality as usual!),
>>>> and I thought I'd make a few HCI suggestions for the next release.
>>>>
>>>> * First, linear menus are accessed far faster (more than double
>>>> speed), if, instead of aligning sub-menus with the top edge by the
>>>> super-menu entry that holds it, it is centered on said super-menu
>>>> entry.
>>>
>>> I'm only replying to this first point now because it's the easiest one,
>>> it's already implemented :).
>>> <menu>
>>> ...
>>>   <middle>yes</middle>
>>> </menu>
>>
>> My last message was premature.  I can't seem to make this work and I
>> can't find evidence of it in the wiki besides once in the changelog.
>> I put the <middle>yes</middle> directive inside every <menu></menu> in
>> rc.xml, then menu.xml, then both, then in various top-level <menu>
>> entries.  None of which worked.  Is there something I'm missing?  I am
>> using OB 3.4.5 and I did remember to reconfigure after each change.
>
> There should only be one toplevel <menu> tag in rc.xml, which is where you 
> would put the <middle> tag, if you don't already have it. It obviously 
> defaults to "no", so maybe you already have one and it overrides the one 
> you're adding?

In my rc.xml:
[. . .]
<menu>
  <!-- You can specify more than one menu file in here and they are all loaded,
       just don't make menu ids clash or, well, it'll be kind of pointless -->

  <!-- default menu file (or custom one in $HOME/.config/openbox/) -->
  <file>/home/clay/.config/openbox/menu.xml</file>
  <middle>yes</middle>
</menu>
[. . .]

But that doesn't seem to do the centering.

>
> --
> Mikael Magnusson
>
> ps what does HCI stand for?

It stands for Human-Computer Interaction.  It's a traditional name
for what generally amounts to the psychology of interface design.
Some people (like my current employer) call my position "User
Experience," but that sounds like it encompasses more than just a
subfield of industrial design.

>
> ---
> To unsubscribe, send a blank email to openbox-unsubscribe at icculus.org
> Mailing list archives: http://icculus.org/cgi-bin/ezmlm/ezmlm-cgi?24
>

-- 
Clay Barnes

Website:
http://www.hci-matters.com

GPG Public Key (Fingerprint 0xbb14 fce2 1199 c413):
http://www.hci-matters.com/keys/claybarnes_public_key_until20080718.gpg
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://icculus.org/pipermail/openbox/attachments/20080201/9dd1ddd9/attachment.pgp>


More information about the openbox mailing list