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To: Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk>
Cc: xemacs-beta@xemacs.org
Subject: Re: Custom and Options
References: <rjvi75xda4.fsf@zuse.dina.kvl.dk> 	<x2sp2981ft.fsf@lemcbed.lem.uni-karlsruhe.de> 	<rjohcxx9f5.fsf@zuse.dina.kvl.dk> 	<x2g1y92byy.fsf@lemcbed.lem.uni-karlsruhe.de> 	<rjiv34ykpl.fsf@zuse.dina.kvl.dk> 	<x2n2sgyjwa.fsf@lemcbed.lem.uni-karlsruhe.de> 	<u9pvxcx3ei.fsf@neal.ctd.comsat.com> 	<m3ends32g1.fsf@jens.metrix.de> <QQcftv02890.199703070156@crystal.WonderWorks.COM> <rjwwrjx1ks.fsf@zuse.dina.kvl.dk>
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From: Markus Gutschke <gutschk@uni-muenster.de>
Date: 07 Mar 1997 17:09:58 +0100
In-Reply-To: Per Abrahamsen's message of 07 Mar 1997 14:40:19 +0100
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Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:
> There are three states:
> 
> (1) [ ] Underline: on/off
> 
> (2) [X] Underline: on
> 
> (3) [X] Underline: off
> 
> In state (1), the face will not affect whether text is underlined or
> not.  In state (2) it will force the text to be underlined.  In state
> (3) it will force the text to be ununderlined.  
> 
> I'd like the `Underline: on/off to be inactive (greyed out) in state
> (1), but the widget library doesn't support this yet.

Greying out the string would be the best option, but at the very least
come up with a better string than "on/off". Before I read your
explanation, I looked at the table that you listed above, and tested
whether I would be able to guess the meaning of the three states. I
was at a complete loss and it did not make any sense to me.

Off hand, I have to admit that I cannot think of anything that is
really unambigous. Three-state logic is usually confusing unless you
truly know what is meant or unless the GUI designer did a really good
job. Possible alternatives are "n/a" or "inactive", but neither of
these strings really strikes me as being a better solution.

Maybe, you could also altogether get rid of the checkbox. Rather than
having a three-state checkbox, offer a pop-up menu, that provides
entries for all of the three states. I believe, this would be less
confusing.



Markus

-- 
Markus Gutschke          Internet:       gutschk@math.uni-muenster.de
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