Re: User interface suggestions

[Jeff Waugh <jdub aphid net>]

Thank you for your generalised flame in response to my post...


> Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero wrote:
> 
> Some things I never understand about GUI design:


Well, I'll try to explain the sensible ones for you.


> - "You like icons, icons are good for user interface": not for me,
> distracting, hard to understand... (and stupid for blind people, I
> have some friends, and making icons the important part instead of a
> plus or decor really give them problems). And you can say whatever you
> want about scientific researchs, there is always people different to
> the majority (we are minority but we exist).


Firstly, if you don't like icons, turn them off. :)

The reason why icons have such influence over UI design is that they provide
for very immediate recognition of various elements. True, you could also do
this by colour-coding your text, however this is hardly kind to new users of
the interface (what do the colours signify?) nor seasoned users, for the
similar reasons.

As a quick test, recompile GnomeICU with the icons blanked. Then use it with
the icons enabled... Big difference.


> - "You have big screens and you only run one app at a time": my
> screens are small or medium, I run many apps, and yes, I use desktops
> and other tools to organize, but sometimes I have lots of windows at
> the same time in the same screen (a long Gimp session is an example).


This is a tough call with many systems. It's a very tricky thing to make a
given interface appropriate at such disparate resolutions as 640x480 and
1280x1024 -> essentially quadrupled in size. Please consider just how hard
this is.

I think your frustration is also a result of the long-time focus on
applications, rather than 'documents' (or at least what you're working on,
if the 'document' metaphor is inappropriate).

This is one of the big differences between MacOS (document-centric) and
Windows (application-centric) - the Mac, of course, wins hands down.


> - "You click everywhere, it easy": no it is not once you have at least
> one hand over the keyboard and hit some keycombos.


Almost all reasonable UI designers would agree with you wholeheartedly. It
is inefficient to move hand to mouse, hand to mouse, hand to mouse, all the
time.


> - "Complex themes are not a problem, they are cool": sorry, I do not
> buy that, I use a green ThinIce theme (plain design, fast to use), and
> try to remove anything that is just decorative (but I am not an ugly
> lover, that is not the same).


Again, most UI designers would agree with you here. I'm sure a lot of theme
designers wouldn't... Take a gander at linux.conf.au, and download the
official Sawfish theme - that's the kind of minimalism I enjoy to make and
use. :)

I use ThinIce too - and I try to embarrass Stric by thanking him for it
whenever he pops up on IRC. I have the quiet belief that it should be used
as the default GTK+ engine.

Interesting aside here - colour matters. I'm often surprised when I jump
back and forth between default ThinIce and the usual GTK+ theme, noting to
dark and dank feeling of the latter.

Next time you're cruelly forced to use Windows 2000, make sure you look at
the colour of the widgets - then look at Windows NT 4. Gee, doesn't Windows
2000 look so subtly bright and new! Cute trick, huh?


> BTW, I have seen more Whistler photos (same site), and the logout seem
> to have changed to a less "game console" style. Some people is trying
> to copy pre-beta things, which is not right IMO, trying to copy Foo
> just for fun is bad cos if you are going to copy something, you must
> copy cos it is good (be it MS, Apple or whatever).


[They've gone for a more standard button interface, which is hardly
surprising. Note my response to Calum admitting that my design was similarly
flawed - it would never have stood up in a usability test.]

Remember that often enough we're just discussing things randomly here.
Someone posted their idea for a shutdown box (heavily based on Windows idea
of a shutdown box) and I replied with not only a reference, but reasoning
and a screenshot.

One thing to come out of this is the idea of moving the reboot/shutdown
commands away from GDM and into the logged-in user's interface. I think this
is quite reasonable.


> Can we focus more in helping the user and less in "k00lness"?


I don't think anyone was attempting to be "k00l", just sharing ideas.
Providing interpretations and enhancement to these ideas is usually more
productive than long-winded generalised rants (tagged or not). :)

- Jeff


-- jdub aphid net ----------------------------------- http://slug.org.au/ --

        Ye shall be cursed to fall in love so easily, and yet be so
                     cold of heart as never to express it.