QT vs. GTK menus

[Edward Glowacki]

As promised, my explanation of why QT menus are better than GTK
menus. =)

Here's a sample menu to help with the visualization.  It's not spatially accurate, but it's close enough for this discussion... ;)
(may look bad in some fonts, sorry!):

Main Menu
----------
Item 1   >   Sub-menu
ItemX2   >----Z-------
Item 3   >   Sub-item 1
Item 4   >   Sub-item 2
Item 5   >   Sub-item 3
Item 6   >   Sub-item 4
             Sub-Ytem 5

The > denotes that the item has a sub-menu (as most menu systems
use to represent sub-menus).

Now generally when selecting an item, you're mouse is more-or-less
in the middle of the menu, where the X is above.  If you want to
go from Item 2 to Sub-item 5 (X to Y), the shortest path is a
straight line.  However, this path crosses through part of menu
Item 3 and possibly Item 4, depending on the exact curve your mouse
follows.

In GTK, sub-menus appear and disappear instantly, meaning as you
travel from Item 2 (X) to Sub-item 5 (Y), you'll activate the
sub-menus for Item 3 and possibly Item 4.  This of course gets rid
of the sub-menu for Item 2 (your desired sub-menu).  To compensate,
you have to go *across* Item 2, then once you clear the main menu
(somewhere around point Z), go *down* to Sub-item 5.  If you're
lucky, you won't try to cheat and clip the corner of Item 3 on the
way... =)

In contrast, QT sub menus appear and disappear after a short delay.
Actually the delay seems to be tied into mouse movement, so you
can actually wait a split second for the first sub-menu to pop up,
then move the mouse up and down the main menu for a while, and as
long as you maintain a suitable speed, the first sub-menu will stay
open.  What you can do then is take advantage of this and follow
the direct route from point X to point Y without Item 3 or Item 4
(or even Item 5 or Item 6 if you decide to go down a ways, then
over) having their sub-menus pop up.

Thus the QT menus *feel* much better, even though they sometimes
appear a bit sluggish to pop up (the delay is probably half a
second, which is OK.  After one or two uses, you hardly notice
it.).

Anyways, that's my two cents on a Friday afternoon.  Have a good 
weekend everybody!

-- 
Edward Glowacki				glowack2@msu.edu
GLLUG Peon  				http://www.gllug.org
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
                -- Jules de Gaultier