RE: Ease of use (was Call for constructive user criticism.)

["Fox, Kevin M" <KMFox mail bhi-erc com>]

How about this:
Have as part of the gnome stuff the ability for a program to get which mode
gnome is in. Simple/advanced/whatever.
A program will have the choice to do whatever it wants with this
information.
A program can have more then one interface if it is complex enough to
require one. If the program is simple, the program will only need one
interface. But if it is complex, and the programmer has enough time, he/she
can code the second interface (or use libglade) to make it easier to use.

Instead of making it a requirement, make it an option. Have the
infrastructure there so that a programmer that wants this kind of thing can
do it, and the programmers that don't want to worry about the simple
programs don't.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Haug [mailto:eldamitri@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, August 09, 1999 1:27 PM
> To: gnome-list@gnome.org
> Subject: RE: Ease of use (was Call for constructive user criticism.)
> 
> 
> From: "Fox, Kevin M" <KMFox@mail.bhi-erc.com>
> Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1999 12:54:57 -0700
> >I agree.
> >If you make 1 interface easy and simple to use, and the 
> other advanced and
> >more difficult to use, it allows the user to choose if 
> he/she is ready to
> >use the complex stuff. It dosn't need to be insulting, it 
> just needs to be
> >very simple to use.
> 
> I've found that the best guis I've used have had a single 
> interface that had 
> easy, immediate access for the new user, with options set to 
> the most common 
> default, while allowing for plenty of tweaking "under the 
> hood" for the 
> advanced user.  Maybe instead of coming up with two 
> interfaces, we should be 
> thinking of how to write a single interface that can adapt to 
> a user's 
> proficiency.  Even something as simple as "masking" an 
> advanced interface 
> could work, such that only the most necessary options are 
> made available on 
> the toolbar at first, yet still allowing for more buttons, 
> etc., to be added 
> later via an "Options" dialog.
> 
> I guess what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't require multiple 
> interfaces for every application, but rather we should 
> encourage better, 
> adaptable interfaces via examples, guidelines, tutorials, 
> etc.  This could 
> be a natural product of Mr. Cape's gnome gui enhancement 
> request page: not 
> only a discussion/list of possible gui enhancements, but ways 
> to use the gui 
> that exists effectively.  Not that I'm suggesting the Mr. 
> Cape doesn't have 
> enough to do already... :)
> 
> -Scott
> 
> 
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