Re: [PROPOSAL] 'Change Password GUI'

[Trent Lloyd <lathiat bur st>]

On Thu, 2005-05-19 at 14:05 +1200, Matthew Thomas wrote:
> Trent Lloyd wrote:
> >...
> >>2005/5/17, Matthew Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>:
> >...
> >>>Perhaps some improvements could be made to the Users and Groups tool
> >>>instead.
> >>>*   Let anyone open it, requiring an admin password only when you want
> >>>     to modify someone's account and you don't currently have permission.
> >>>*   Make the list of users much narrower (perhaps only one column), so
> >>>     that properties -- including the password field -- can be visible
> >>>     alongside it as soon as you select a user in the list, rather than
> >>>     appearing in a separate window only when you click a "Properties"
> >>>     button.
> >>>*   Always place the account of the current user at the top of the
> >>>     list, and pre-select it.
> >>>
> >>>That way, when you opened Users and Groups, the fields for changing your
> >>>own password would be immediately visible.
> >...
> > I think this is stupid, this interface is an *admin* interface, you
> > can't expect users to go in to some admin tool,
> 
> Then the right way to fix it is to stop categorizing it as solely an 
> "admin tool", not to provide redundant interfaces for the same task. See 
>   the introduction to <http://live.gnome.org/PreferencesRevisited>.

But if I open a tool for me, I see stuff about me
If I open a tool for administration, i expect to see an information
overview, if by getting the default "me", then I have to navigate to yet
another position in the program which is anti-productive and makes it no
different to having a separate tool, other than the fact its now
"slower" to get there.

> > find there own user,
> 
> As explained in the text you quoted, they wouldn't have to find 
> themselves. Their own account would be at the top of the list, and 
> selected whenever they opened the window.
> 
> > open it,
> 
> Same there. Whatever account was selected would have its information 
> shown in the same window; no opening involved.
What if they accidentally selected something different because their
trackpad did a mis-click, or they didn't think that it was them and they
clicked something else? Perhaps they were logged in as the wrong user,
for example.


> > change their password, then realise they opened the wrong user
> > and they need some admin password!
> 
> That wouldn't happen for two reasons. First, they wouldn't "open" 
> someone else's "user" in the first place, since their own password field 
> would be there for changing as soon as they opened the window. Second, 
Thats an assumption, as mentioned above, we are "assuming" the user
didn't click something else.

> in the unlikely event that they *did* click on another account by 
> accident, none of its fields would be editable without entering an admin 
> password first. That, combined with the visible selection in the 
So then the user is confused, and then in a desktop system just types
the admin password in and then changes some other accounts password.

> always-visible list of accounts (now that it isn't being covered by a 
> separate window) would make it obvious that they'd strayed into the 
> wrong place.

I think that its more "obvious" to have a box "about me" and then a box
"users on this system" with clearly defined uses.

Trent.

> 
> Cheers
-- 
Trent Lloyd <lathiat bur st>
Bur.st Networking Inc.