Bug 88646 - HIG Violation: "Html settings" and "Change Browser Identification" do not belong to tools
Summary: HIG Violation: "Html settings" and "Change Browser Identification" do not bel...
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: konqueror
Classification: Applications
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Gentoo Packages Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Konqueror Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2004-09-01 23:47 UTC by Paul Pacheco
Modified: 2011-06-11 04:30 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

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Description Paul Pacheco 2004-09-01 23:47:59 UTC
Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.3.0)
Installed from:    Gentoo Packages
OS:                Linux

HTML Settings
is not a tool, and therefore it does not belong in the "tools" Menu. This is more of a settings that IMHO should go inside the dialog box "Settings -> Configure konqueror..." according to:
http://usability.kde.org/hig/current/system-settings.php#system-settings-configuration

Also, "Change browser identification" is not a tool, it should go inside "settings". This one is a bit tricky because it falls under "Document Options" http://usability.kde.org/hig/current/system-settings.php#system-settings-document

but there is no clear place where this should go. It is however clear this is not a tool but a setting and IMHO should not go in "tools".
Comment 1 xtian0009 2004-11-10 20:49:25 UTC
I like to enable cookies on a per web site basis. As I know I can do that quickly from the menu, I always expect it to be in the "settings" menu but it is somewhere in the "tools" menu and it is irritating. To me enabling or disabling cookies seems to be a matter of "settings" and not a "tool". For me a tool is something like the "find" tool or "translate this page".

Regards,
Sangohn Christian
Comment 2 George Staikos 2004-11-11 00:17:16 UTC
On Wednesday 10 November 2004 14:49, xtian0009@gmx.net wrote:
> ------- I like to enable cookies on a per web site basis. As I know I can
> do that quickly from the menu, I always expect it to be in the "settings"
> menu but it is somewhere in the "tools" menu and it is irritating. To me
> enabling or disabling cookies seems to be a matter of "settings" and not a
> "tool". For me a tool is something like the "find" tool or "translate this
> page".

  The UA changer is an optional tool that plugs into KHTML, not a setting.

Comment 3 Paul Pacheco 2004-11-11 16:06:48 UTC
So all the plugins go in tools????

That sounds like making the UI accomodate the programmer rather than making the UI accomodate the user.

A user has no idea that changing disabling/enabling the cookies is a plugin (and he should not have to know). He would expect that kind of stuff to be a setting, not a tool, don't you think?

I would have to agree comment #1 that the enabling/disabling the cookies belongs in settings and not tools from a usability POV.
Comment 4 George Staikos 2004-11-11 16:19:46 UTC
Cookies are configurable from the Settings menu only.  There is a -tool-, that is -optional-, that is a -plugin- to khtml from kdeaddons, that allows you to do this quickly.  That's why it's in the tools menu.
Comment 5 J Appel 2006-09-12 01:07:50 UTC
George's statements appear to come with reason. There maybe reasons for both point of views. Since it's been ~2 years in that state i will close this bug in case of no objections within 30.
Comment 6 Paul Pacheco 2006-09-12 16:10:45 UTC
Would it be possible to get some of the usability guys look at konqueror menu before closing it?
Comment 7 Paul Pacheco 2006-09-12 16:16:04 UTC
Note the bug is about "HTML Settings" and "Change Browser Identification", not about the cookie thing. So please dont close the bug because an unrelated (maybe invalid) bug was mentioned.
Comment 8 J Appel 2006-09-13 11:53:40 UTC
the devs are aware of the hig-related bugs. the guidelines are about to change, then the problem will be adressed. 
Comment 9 Jacob Beauregard 2007-05-17 06:14:06 UTC
Yea, Konqueror is one of the ugliest apps in KDE in terms of usability.

What you guys are bringing up seems to be a case of interlapping fuzzy logic (i.e. one can categorize a setting as a tool and a tool as a setting).

We could go two directions:
1. A heuristics approach, or which items are more likely to be considered in one category than another.
2. More preferably, eliminate fuzzy interlapping. This would take a broader spectrum of applications, as most KDE apps have both tools and settings categories, and the same issues could be easily duplicated.

I'll try doing a web search for prior usability studies that would pertain to these issues.
Comment 10 FiNeX 2008-05-16 14:39:09 UTC
Jacob: did you find something interesting on your searches?
Comment 11 Jacob Beauregard 2008-05-16 18:26:32 UTC
Well, eliminating categorical overlapping tends to be the more popular answer to this question.
Comment 12 Dawit Alemayehu 2011-06-11 04:30:14 UTC
Sorry but no one here seems to listen to what George said. If a particular plugin violates the HIG for you, feel free to not enable it or remove it. It is an optional helper that is not needed. You can change all configuration from the settings menu. And in the same menu you can choose to disable these helper plugins that are mostly redundant.