[Lazarus] TSplitter

[Bernd Kreuss]

On 21.08.2010 14:31, Mattias Gaertner wrote:

> Several controls set the Align property by default. For example
> TStatusBar, TSplitter, TButtonPanel, TPage.

These are intuitively supposed to be positioned where the align property
suggests and not moved to somewhere into the middle of a form

> TSplitter uses alLeft by default for Delphi compatibility.

The splitter is *expected* to be positioned freely in the *middle* of
the form *between* other controls. This is intuitive. Gluing it
unmovable to one of the form borders by default until the user finds out
how to make it movable (or how the alternative strange old Delphi usage
is supposed to work) is not intuitve, IMHO.

> Many people find Align more intuitive than Anchors. Especially those
> coming from Delphi or other frameworks.

You are confusing learned behavior with intuition and don't recognize it
anymore. This is a common problem in software development. What the
developer finds "intuitive" is in reality only what he knows how to do
because he is trained to do it.

To find out what is intuitive and what is counterintuitive there is *no*
way around *listening* to what unconditioned and unbiased users tell you
about *their* experience and by observing *their* usage patterns when
they are using it for the first time!

Bernd