RE: [Setup-tool-hackers] RE: 2.4: System Tools - Please try them

[Mark Finlay <sisob eircom net>]

> I've seen this in MacOS X and I never saw the point personally. How is it
> easier to use them if they are icons on one big window than if they are
> icons in a hierarchical menu? 

It is much easier to move your eyes from one part of a catagorised
control panel than to browse a heirarchical menu with the mouse. Also
the control panel is more forgiving if you choose the wrong capplet.
Most users are will have an idea after a few days of using gnome which
apps are where in the applications menu and what each of them does. The
same is not true of the control center. A person could use gnome for
months and still not have a very good idea of where everything is in the
control center. This is why menus make sense IMHO for applications but
not preferences.

> Also, doesn't this just encourage us to have
> lots of little control panels because we can categorise them, instead of
> having fewer sensible control panels?

Nope it will do the opposite - menus can go on forever - before we know
it we could have a cc with 3 or 4 submenus and each with 5 or 6 items.
With a cc like the OsX one you have a finite amount of space in which to
place everything. And before adding something you have to find a place
for it that makes sense in the overall scheme of things.

-- 
Mark Finlay <sisob eircom net>