Re: About Bookmarks and Categories



On Mon, 2005-09-05 at 01:09 +0200, Kristoffer Lundén wrote:
> "The traditional way of organizing bookmarks is too complicated for
> average users. Assigning topics to bookmarks instead of hierarchical
> folders is more intuitive. This means a few differences to traditional
> bookmarks systems:"
> 
> The condescending words about average users aside, ...

I agree, I'm pretty sure that was written by a non-English writer. Maybe
we ought to re-phrase it.

> I would like to
> request an explanation on how this is more intiutive and furthermore,
> what benefits it gives. The simplistic behaviour of picking *one*
> folder and sticking your data in it seems to be the most intiutive to
> me. There isn't much to be confused about then.

Until you forget the folder....

> I can get pretty annoyed in for instance gmail when the only way to
> say that a mail is from my school, and about the education in general,
> and another mail is also from my school but about a certain class - is
> to mark up with several labels, or create separate labels for all
> these cases. Actually, I have to create completely separate labels,
> because the quick-links only allow to select one label at the time.

Little do you know, you've just precisely described why hierarchies
*don't* work.

At the top of "gmail" is a little text box. It does a Google search of
all your mail. I suggest you get the hang of it: it's what sets gmail
apart. It really does work, perfectly, and it's *all* you need. What's
faster: typing a few words into a text box and finding your email right
away, or navigating a deep hierarchy and possibly getting lost?

Instead of using all those labels in gmail, try this: just don't use
any. I'll bet hard cash you'll lose less emails using that search box
than you would filing emails by hand.

We're all human, and I think many of us have a tendency to want to know
where every email or bookmark is. It can be a bit tricky to let go, but
there comes a point when the simple truth comes through:

  ***computers can organize information better than a human being***

Epiphany's bookmarks are meant to be found via the location bar;
Google's emails are meant to be found via that little search box. You're
free to *try* with other methods, but-- well, you'll just waste your own
time.

(This email is more in praise of gmail than of Epiphany's bookmarks
system; unfortunately, people must manage Topics in Epiphany by hand;
it'd be nice if we could obliterate that step: maybe using
libbeagle....)

-- 
Adam Hooper <adamh densi com>

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