Re: GNOME now

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

> > Lets be intellectually honest - a command line client editor is *NOT*
> > user-friendly.
> 
> I don't agree at all with this assessment: it depends entirely on the
> audience it is targeting.

If the goal is freedom then presumably the goal is freedom for all not
freedom for the special elite who speak gconf.

> because the amount of available options is, currently, not something
> that should even be exposed; applications use the settings machinery
> to save state, as well as user preferences, and that should not be
> exposed to any user - including the one of tinkering tendencies.

Why not ?

> that is not entirely our decision, considering that GNOME is currently
> shipped by distributions downstream of us. the most that GNOME as
> project can do is saying the the tweak tool is part of the project.

The tweak tool is not integrated.

If you look at say a modern digital TV - which is a product that
notoriously has to deal with everyone from the totally tech clueless to
the video nuts who want to hand adjust everything then it is all in the
settings.

Most of it you don't notice because there are usually options in the
settiings that basically look like

	Audio Balance:	Standard   Clear Voice   User Defined

and only if someone goes and selects user defined does the page of
configuration material actually show itself. That's good design because
it is discoverable, it is easy to back away from and also because it
means the user defined settings can be fiddled with and are not lost when
you flip back to a safe default. Rather they are kept and flipping back
to user defined goes back to them as left.

Much of this stuff in Gnome IMHO belongs in settings in that same kind of
way.

My TV is insanely configurable, but while I personally don't fiddle with
the configuration much it doesn't get in the way. At worst the user
experience is a one off

	"I wonder what 'user defined' is
	 click
	 ooh not what I wanted
	 click"

and only while exploring the settings by choice

> as a personal opinion, I don't agree that the tweak tool should be
> installed by default; it can be pointed out in the documentation as a
> way to get more options, but it's really up to the user to decide
> whether or not she should install it. the user experience should stand
> by itself.

Well it doesn't - clearly as is evidenced by the fact people are forking
it and shipping the forks in major distros.

Alan