G-p-m hding while on AC

[Carl Karsten]

Corey Burger wrote:

 > On 3/8/06, Christian Bjälevik <nafallo at magicalforest.se> wrote:
 >
 >> ons 2006-03-08 klockan 12:55 -0800 skrev Corey Burger:
 >>
 >>> Here is the problem with hiding it when fully charged and on AC. The
 >>> only way to know see if your battery is fully charged  (after it has
 >>> been charging) is to note the *absence* of any icon. Do you honestly
 >>> expect my father to figure that out?
 >>
 >>
 >> Nope,

stop there.  "person can't figure out" is a problem.


 >> but I expect him to see the icon when he tries to pull AC out :-) .
 >> Just as I expect him to see a printer after he made an action to print
 >> something.
 >>
 >> Cheers, /C
 >
 >
 >
 > Ok, let me phrase this differently. Why are we making it hard for the
 > user to see the battery state? What are we gaining by making that
 > decision? Is a slightly cleaner panel all we are trying to achieve?
 > Given that battery power is the *single* most important piece of
 > information you want when running a laptop, I don't see the advantage
 > here.
 >
 > Corey
 >

I agree with Corey.

Here is my view on precious panel space - there are 2 cases:

1. there are few other icons, so in this case adding one won't hurt.

2. there are many other icons, so in this case it is hard to figure out if the 
power one is missing.  In this case, I find it much easier to find the power 
icon and see what the status is.  On systems where I can't find it, I always 
think "is the battery at 50% but there isn't any icon to report this?"

On printer icons: if the printer isn't doing anything, I don't care, and don't 
really have any need to go looking for it's status.  With a battery, knowing it 
is charged is something I want to know, even when it is charged, so I will go 
looking for the icon.  Consider this:  how often will a user go looking for the 
icon when it isn't there?  If often, then it should be there.  I am willing to 
bet it is high for battery sate and low for printer state, so they are not the same.

^CarlFK