Re: scrollbars [was: Re: really attracting developers]

[Pascal Bourguignon]

phil taylor writes:
> I hardly see how anyone can believe that the dangling menu looks better.
> I suppose it looks odd to me largely due to it being different to the
> usual paradigm with which I am familiar, but even taking that into
> account it is still rather odd.

Just go to your favorite retaurant, and ask for the menu.

Is it something like:

    Hors d'oeuvre
       Salade Waldorf
       Oeufs mimosa
    Plat
       Boeuf Bourguignon
       Escalope de veau
       Côtelettes d'agneau
       Truite aux amandes
    Desert
       Banana split
       Forêt noire
       Pomme

or is it something like:

    Salade Waldorf, Oeufs mimosa, Boeuf Bourguignon, Escalope de veau, 
Côtelettes d'agneau, Truite aux amandes, Banana split, Forêt noire, Pomme



But of course, I'll concede that trying to map real life stuff onto
the computer screen is just a silly gimmick to sell more Mac to
newbies, and that the best menu is the one that doesn't appear on the
screen.  Even the best window manager is the one that doesn't display
anything on the screen (I'm going to leave WindowMaker for something
like ratpoison or stumpwm soon).  

On NeXTSTEP, I just kept the menu out of screen, and configured the
right button to pop it up under the mouse.  For popup menus of course,
the vertical disposition is better, because it needs less mouse
movement to select the item.

You must compare:

   - right button down, move a little down, right button up, vs.

   - move far, far, even farther nowadays with 1600x1200 displays, up
     left, (are you aready there?), right button down, move right,
     further, further, move down a little, right button up, move down,
     down, down back to the original place.

Clearly, a menu bar is silly.  And menu bars per window are worse.


-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__                     http://www.informatimago.com/

"You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you
stand!"