Looks nice!
It might be nice if instead of clicking a radio button, one could click the Plasmoid and it would get highlighted to mark the selection. That might look even less "application-y".

colomar wrote:Looks nice!
It might be nice if instead of clicking a radio button, one could click the Plasmoid and it would get highlighted to mark the selection. That might look even less "application-y".

this

notmart wrote:

colomar wrote:Looks nice!
It might be nice if instead of clicking a radio button, one could click the Plasmoid and it would get highlighted to mark the selection. That might look even less "application-y".

this

Looks nice

If this menu is next to the widget, the user should see that this widget will be replaced. If it's possible, you could make it even more clearer by graying all other widgets out:

rumangerst wrote:If this menu is next to the widget, the user should see that this widget will be replaced. If it's possible, you could make it even more clearer by graying all other widgets out:

not possible atm

notmart wrote:

rumangerst wrote:If this menu is next to the widget, the user should see that this widget will be replaced. If it's possible, you could make it even more clearer by graying all other widgets out:

not possible atm

Would it be possible to at least show the blue line on it?

notmart wrote:this

Yes, this is what I had in mind, I like it! I assume the Workflow is currently as follows:
- User right-clicks a Plasmoid to which alternatives are available.
- User clicks "Switch to Alternative"
- Dialog opens, current Plasmoid is highlighted in it, "Switch" button deactivated
- (ideally if the Plasmoid is in the panel, it shows the blue bar above/below/next to it)
- User clicks a differen Plasmoid, it is highlighted
- User clicks "Switch"
- Plasmoid is swapped out

Is that assumption correct? If so: Yay from me!

colomar wrote:Is that assumption correct? If so: Yay from me!

yes, modulo the blue indicator.
I tought about it, but don't know how to have it since the applet can't know that this particular dialog is open.

notmart wrote:

colomar wrote:Is that assumption correct? If so: Yay from me!

yes, modulo the blue indicator.
I tought about it, but don't know how to have it since the applet can't know that this particular dialog is open.

Well, it's mostly a nice-to-have, so if it's not possible, so be it. It should be possible for users to still mentally associate the dialog with the Plasmoid from whose context menu it originated, even without the visual cue.

Looks great Marco!

One observation is that the title "Alternatives" above the list that includes the plasmoid you want to switch from might be a little incongruent: The plasmoid isn't an "alternative" of itself. I realize the switch button is disabled so that helps a little, but from a pure information presentation standpoint it might read a little odd.

Is there a string available for the type of plasmoids in this list, like say "Launchers"? So in this case the title might say "Launchers" instead of "Alternatives".

Just an idea.

Just another idea.

How about moving the title "Alternatives" below the current plasmoid? I think this would make it more clear that the first entry is the currently used plasmoid and everything below are the alternatives.

cloose wrote:Just another idea.

How about moving the title "Alternatives" below the current plasmoid? I think this would make it more clear that the first entry is the currently used plasmoid and everything below are the alternatives.

and in top application launcher. or weather vor ....

Very nice. This will be very useful, especially for selecting another application launcher.

I think Plasma Human Interface Guidelines requires that everything should be accessible from left click. Making it accessible only through the context menu is not discoverable enough for some users.

You can access the configuration dialog of the application launcher by a single click (unlock widgets, click on the icon on the right of the panel, hover on the application launcher, and click on the button in the tooltip). Another button to choose an alternative might be added there.

AGuiFr wrote:Very nice. This will be very useful, especially for selecting another application launcher.

I think Plasma Human Interface Guidelines requires that everything should be accessible from left click. Making it accessible only through the context menu is not discoverable enough for some users.

You can access the configuration dialog of the application launcher by a single click (unlock widgets, click on the icon on the right of the panel, hover on the application launcher, and click on the button in the tooltip). Another button to choose an alternative might be added there.

Well spotted! Yes, it should be. Marco, is that doable?

Putting the button into the popup menu is a good idea, but I think the popup should be extended a bit, so you don't have unnamed buttons with icons, anymore.
An icon for 'settings' is clear and understandable - but an icon for 'Show alternatives' ?
Also, a user may want to know what this widget is doing, so let's add a short description.




Edit: This concept works fine for widget in a control bar, but not for 'free floating' widgets (?)

rumangerst wrote:
Edit: This concept works fine for widget in a control bar, but not for 'free floating' widgets (?)

hmm, i'm a bit concerned about a detail here..
I see many suggestions tend to add in the name of "intuitiveness" a lot of UI chrome.. I feel is kinda the opposite of what group should try to achieve, given the historical problems of KDE in this regard.

I consider even adding a single new button in the applet handle "clutter" at this point, (let alone an additional wall of text).
It used to be reachable only with left clicks when it was in the config dialog. This apparently gave problems so has been moved away from it, but definitely not going to sprinkle more buttons around to workaround problems given by the move.

Let's sum up everything:

We have two concepts of replacing a widget:

1. Using a submenu in configuration dialog
2. Using a popup, which shows next to the widget

1 is fulfilling 'everything with left clicks', 2 looks better and 'feels' like a genuine/familiar action on widgets (like adding a widget or removing it), but it only shows up by opening the context menu.

--

What is our goal?

Experienced users can use both methods (but I think will more liking 2nd option) - But experienced users know that there are alternatives* - This function is just a helper to make it a bit easier.

In my opinion the goal should be: How to show an unexperienced user that there are alternatives - Usually they aren't familiar with computers and/or Windows users. In Windows there're only some unnecessary settings, which for example switches the icon size between 'small' and 'large').
Humans don't know what they want, until alternatives/flavours/... are presented to them (I think there's an article about scientis finding out that humans even usually say the opposite of sth. they really want [until alternatives are presented] ), so:

How to say to the user 'Hey, here are alternatives, you may like. You have the freedom of choice' ?

* So using a context menu or an entry in the configuration dialog just works fine.