Re: slab menu

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Mon, 2007-02-05 at 19:01 -0500, JP Rosevear wrote:
> On Mon, 2007-02-05 at 18:13 +0000, Calum Benson wrote:
> > On Mon, 2007-02-05 at 13:02 -0500, JP Rosevear wrote:
> > 
> > > How is it slow to get to things vs a traditional hierarchal menu? My
> > > important apps are two clicks away -> open menu -> click.  Hierarachal
> > > menus more clicks than that.  Don't like the default list?  Drag from
> > > the app browser and drop them on the menu.
> > 
> > Much as we'd all like it to be untrue, that's still more customisation
> > than many (most?) "average" users are either willing to do, or have the
> > knowledge to do, or (in some cases) are allowed to do by their sysadmin.
> 
> So the alternative is to going digging through a set of 3 deeps menus
> with arbitrary and overlapping categorization?  This also doesn't
> provide a counter to the original speed argument (I don't see you
> claiming hierarchical menus are any faster).

No, I wasn't claiming that... I was just commenting that you shouldn't
be surprised if people don't use the features of the slab menu (or any
other software) that would actually it make it more efficient for them
to use, and then complain that they don't like it because it's less
efficient, as seems to have been the case in this impromptu field test.

> >You should see the state of the Start menu on my wife's Windows
laptop,
> > it takes up almost the whole screen, and it's not even in alphabetical
> > order :)  But she says she has no interest in streamlining it, and
> > wouldn't know how to anyway.
> 
> I'm not really getting the counter argument here - rhat she has no
> interest in streamlining it implies it works for her.

Depends how you define "works".  Since she rarely uses it (as she just
keeps IE and Thunderbird open all the time) she doesn't remember where
anything is on it, she has to "hunt and peck" every time.  So yes, it
works in the sense that she always gets there eventually, but she's not
interested in putting in the few minutes' work that might help her to
use it more efficiently.  Such is human nature :)

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            GNOME Desktop Group
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems