Re: Scrollbar bug on OS X

[Miles Bader <snogglethorpe@gmail.com>]

On Apr 8, 2005 4:59 AM, David Reitter <david.reitter@gmail.com> wrote:
> Users exert their freedom to chose a particular UI environment. GTK can
> be seen as part of an environment, as it creates compatible behavior
> across applications. As mentioned earlier in this thread, UI is more
> than the pretty visual image of a widget - it's the behavior that
> counts.

Yeah, well as a user, I'm always a bit miffed by the all-or-nothing
attitudes of many GUI zealots.

As a user, I know that I choose an "environment" like GTK/Gnome
because I like the way it behaves/looks _on average_ better than other
choices.  None-the-less, there are very often things I dislike about
it, and I'm very appreciative when the GUI developer had the foresight
to allow me to override his defaults (however well considered they
are).

It's great to provide defaults that match expectations of the
majority, but die-hard dogmatism in the name of the "users" is not
great at all.

> Consistency is extremely important.

Consistent _defaults_, and guidelines that encourage consistent
behavior are good things; consistency at all costs often causes more
damage than good.

> while I think that this
> commonly used scrollbar behavior is actually consistent with the
> document/window metaphor put forward in most modern windowing
> environments since the mid-80's (which implies no over-scrolling)

Er, how exactly does the "document/window metaphor" imply no
over-scrolling?  It seems more a case of "gee maybe users will get
confused if their document is scrolled too much ... let's prevent it!"
(which is all fine and good, but it's merely a practical heuristic).

> Instead, suffice it to say that it should be up to
> the UI layer to implement the exact behavior.

The UI layer should be able to specify defaults; the final decision
should be up to the user.

-Miles
-- 
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.