[dev] menu

[Eric Rostetter]

Quoting Nuno Loureiro <nuno@co.eth.pt>:

> Hello!
> 
>     With the increase number of modules that appeared lately, menu
> increased a lot. Even with my browser maximized, I don't have horizontal
> space to have all the horde modules in the menu, and there is not an
> horizontal scroll bar to move to the righter modules. I think this
> should be changed, because it starts to not look attractive, in terms of
> interface.

Yes, this is an interesting problem. 

>    Anyone have been thinking about this? The only ideas that crossed my
> mind were:

Yes, thinking about it, and doing something about it locally.

>     - Put the frame vertical
>     - Decrease the number of modules available on the menu and put the
> removed ones in a separate menu somewhere available only in the first
> page.
>     - Develop a menu like MSWindows "Start Menu"
> 
> Any thoughts?

What I do is create dummy modules that group related modules.  For example,
the accounts module groups forwards, passwd, and vacation (so you have 1
menu icon rather than 3-4).  I also created my own "News & Info" module
that contains Jonah, Troll, and Klutz (and some other local stuff).

By making these "collection" modules, I'm able to offer 18 modules with out
running out of menu bar space.  The users don't seem to mind the indirection
as long as the "collection" modules have informative names and group 
related tasks.

The other option I considered was making the horde bottom menu bar wrap 
into to lines of icons at some limit, but this really limited the remaining
window space for the other large apps like IMP and kronolith, so it didn't
seem as practical.  Also, I wonder if too many icons down there will just
overwhelm some users?

> -- 
> Nuno Loureiro <nuno@eth.pt>
> Ethernet, Soluções Informáticas, LDA
> http://www.eth.pt

-- 
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

"TAD (Technology Attachment Disorder) is an unshakable, impractical devotion
to a brand, platform, product line, or programming language. It's relatively
harmless among the rank and file, but when management is afflicted the damage
can be measured in dollars. It's also contagious -- someone with sufficient
political clout can infect an entire organization."

--"Enterprise Strategies" columnist Tom Yager.