Review of the Edit Profile Dialog based on the KDE 4 HIG

Authors:        Robert Knight < robertknight@gmail.com >
Last Updated:   07-05-2007
Summary:        A basic review of the edit profile dialog 
                checking conformance with the KDE 4 HIG

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Contents:
    1.   Introduction  
    2.   Visual vertical lines
    3.   Inline editing
    4.   Dialog depth

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1.  Introduction

This is a basic review of the Edit Profile Dialog, checking compliance against the 
KDE 4 HIG guidelines posted here and documenting problems found.

http://wiki.openusability.org/guidelines/index.php/Design_and_Layout:Layout:Dialogs

2.  Visual vertical lines

The guidelines suggest that there should be "one or two major vertical axis" to guide the user's
attention, that is there should be a vertical axis which widgets do not cross 
( except for section titles ), but should be on one side or the other.

The "General" and "Advanced" tabs do not comply with this.  In the General tab,
each section ( main , Tab Titles , Window & Tab Bar Options ) has its own visual line.

This is quite difficult to handle in Qt Designer at present and a problem for most
KDE applications.  Particularly checkboxes and radio buttons since the label and 
check/radio box are part of the same widget, but they may belong on
different sides of the vertical line.

2.1  Inline editing

The tab title format section has a separate dialog to help editing these formats.
The guidelines suggest the use of inline editing where possible. 

2.2  Dialog depth

The guidelines suggest not nesting dialogs more than two levels deep.
If the user opens the dialog via Settings -> Edit Current Profile, then
there are no dialogs more than two levels deep.

If they go through the Manage Profiles dialog first ( Settings -> Manage Profiles )
then the Color Scheme Editor / Key Bindings Editor dialogs are three levels deep.

3.  Modality

The "Manage Profiles" and "Edit Profile" dialogs are generally used in a modal
fashion.  This is not necessary.
