Re: [Tikiwiki-devel] The proverbial watch icon

[Rick S. <ric...@ke...>]

Just my opinion, but I expect buttons in a button bar to perform an action.

>
>Here's what I propose to do.
>
>Use icons to convey informattion about the STATE of watches (since at
>least, STATE is interpreted consistently by users), and use some other
>more explicit form of feedback to convey information about ACTION.

I disagree. I think the icon should continue to convey the ACTION. The STATE 
can *easily* be inferred based on the action. For example, if the action is 
"Start watching this page." then the current status is obviously "not 
watching."

>For now, info about ACTION will be conveyed via the yello info box that
>pops up when you leave the mouse over the icon.

This text is controlled by the TITLE element of the <A> tag. I *think* this 
behavior may vary, depending on the browser & platform. In some instances 
the ALT text of the IMG (which is *inside* the <A> tag) is displayed instead 
of the link's title. AFAIK, this *is not* controlled by TIki.

If it is truly this confusing, why not simply remove the icon completely and 
use a simple drop list (like we do for backlinks) with two options:
- Watch this page. (i.e., the current state is "not watching")
- Stop watching this page (i.e., the current state is "watching")

Just my $0.02.

-R

---
Greetings from Sanford, NC, USA!