Re: Gtk scrollbar: thumb too short

[Miles Bader]

Owen Taylor <address@hidden> writes:
> Actually, it would be interesting to know what percentage of emacs
> users actually _drag_ the scrollbar to navigate in a document; it's
> quite possible the primary use of the scrollbar is as a visual
> indicator of where the current viewport is located within the
> document. In which case, it's not clear to me that the scrollbar is
> the right control at all.

What are you suggesting?  A knob?  The scrollbar fits quite well, even
if emacs users don't use it in exactly the same way as with other apps.

In my personal use, I rarely drag -- but I _do_ sometimes, because
occasionally it's the best way to quickly scan through a file.  From
what I've observed, novice users drag more often.

> For GTK+, I really want to preserve the idea that the scrollbar
> consists of a thumb of some length that can be positioned between two
> extremes - at the top of the trough and at the bottom of the
> trough. For it to change length while dragging is a bit peculiar.  For
> it to go past the ends of the trough, either literally or by shrinking
> as it is pushed against the end is completely outside that model.

The above two behaviors are merely _extensions_ to the `usual' behavior
(as you define it), and fairly natural ones at that -- they extrapolate
your `model' beyond the (arbitrary) boundaries you've set for other
apps, but only in boundary cases, and only a little bit.

I somehow get the impression you're worried that if GTK supports these
extensions for emacs, it will `pollute' users' idea of how a scrollbar
works; if so this seems kind of silly.

Emacs should _definitely_ use the same scrollbar as other GTK apps
because regardless of any different behavior in corner cases, it's 95%
the same thing.  Users know that when they want to scroll, they can use
a scrollbar, and the emacs extensions being discussed make absolutely
no fundamental changes in the way scrollbars work.

-Miles
-- 
Come now, if we were really planning to harm you, would we be waiting here, 
 beside the path, in the very darkest part of the forest?