Re: Proposal for default panel layout w/ some modifications to thepanel

[Ben Ford <ben kalifornia com>]

James Ramsey wrote:

> --- Ben Ford <ben kalifornia com> wrote:
>
> > Lets say, I set my MOM up with a gnome desktop
> > running Nautilus.  She 
> > complains that Nautilus makes it too slow and can we
> > go back to that 
> > thingie we had before (gmc).
> >
> > I explain, sure, but then you won't be able to see
> > image previews and 
> > play music with it.  So now she wants both, gmc for
> > day to day, and 
> > Nautilus when she wants to use those features.
> >
> > Now what you are saying is that she has to be an
> > ADVANCED user for 
> > Nautilus to not draw the desktop???  A little hint
> > for you, she's barely 
> > a beginner!  User levels, at least as proposed by
> > everybody here DON'T WORK!
>
> There is a big problem with your example. You
> *instructed* and probably *showed* your mother how to
> switch between Nautilus and gmc. The goal of making

No switching involved.  She uses GMC for the desktop and Nautilus for a 
file manager.  But in order for that to happen, her system has to be set 
to "advanced" user level.  If she someday notices that she's marked 
'advanced' and decides to switch it to 'beginner' she'll be unhappy 
because her desktop changed and I can guarantee that she won't make the 
correlation.

> the GNOME GUI usable even if no one is around to
> instruct the user right at that minute. Sysadmins may
> be busy or at meetings, or handling somebody else's
> problem, and the friendly neighborhood computer
> tinker|nerd|guru may not be available for advice at
> the moment, so in that meantime the user should be
> able to do useful work with the GUI. In the example,
> you were available to instruct your mother. You were,
> in effect, the sysadmin.

No, as I replied privately, we live 1200 miles away from each other.

> User levels are designed to reflect the knowledge and
> experience of the user on his or her own, not the user
> and sysadmin together.

Exactly.  My mother is a beginner.  But if her system is set to 
beginner, then it doesn't work the way she wants it to and is then very 
unhappy.  Enough unhappiness and somebody there will install windows on it.

>


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