[news.eclipse.tools] Re: Perspectives and system modality

[Dan Kehn <kehn@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I understand your reaction, given the terse nature of the response to the
bug report.  But while I'm not working on the issue, I know that the
development team agrees with your concerns regarding the usability of the
help subsystem and the preservation of context across perspective switches.
Both these issues will be addressed in version 2.0, as noted in the bug
report.

BTW, I suspect that the system modality is more about preserving the
integrity of the underlying model (read: making Eclipse programming easier)
than usability.  In any case, I encourage you to add your comments to the
bug report.

Stephan Eggermont wrote:

> Perspectives and system modality
>
> [A reaction on bug 2609]
>
> The introduction of perspectives in Eclipse has consequences for the
> amount of modality that can be allowed. A basic user-interface principle
> for the mouse-and-windows style used by almost all current platforms
> is user control. That means that the system can only provide minimal
> ordering on the user initiated actions. In Eclipse, that means that
> actions in a certain perspective should not influence the controlling
> workspace and other perspectives.  The user chooses which task
> she wants to continue with, not the system.
>
> A problematic example can be seen in the behaviour of the
> new project wizard. A first-time user of Eclipse is likely to be reading
> the help (a different perspective). Once the wizard is started, the
> user can no longer switch perspective and scroll the help to see
> what to do next. This is a very serious usability problem, as  it
> makes it unneccessary difficult for potential users to learn to use
> Eclipse.
>
> The solution for this is the removal of system modality from Eclipse.
> From a usability point of view there are no situations where it is
> needed. Perspective modality may be needed, and in order to avoid
> confusing the user should be made visible (no hidden modes),
> in both the perspective short cut and the windows involved.
>
> Stephan Eggermont
> Sensus, systems that make sense