Re: Gnome Shell

[Calum Benson <calum benson oracle com>]

On 3 Feb 2011, at 08:47, Allan Day wrote:

> One question here is what constitutes 'more work'.

Very true, although perversely of course, in some ways it doesn't actually matter -- a user's perception of how much (for example) mouse movement and clicking they're doing will affect their experience just as much as the measurable amount of mouse movement and clicking they're actually doing.

> The other question is whether we should be thinking just in terms of
> efficiency. The shell's design has always had user experience as its
> focus, and this is something which does not always neatly map onto
> measures of efficiency.

You're correct there too, of course. Efficiency is but one component of usability, and its relative importance to the others will vary between users, and between different tasks performed by the same user.

> I know there are yet to be implemented plans for key navigation in the
> shell, particularly in the overview, and I'm sure a lot of thought has
> gone into them. Maybe a GOMS analysis could be useful there... I'm sure
> you could talk to Jon or Jimmac about it on #gnome-design.

Thanks, I might :) I wasn't really questioning the actual design we're about to release, which I'm well aware is the result of a great deal of thoughtful design. It just seemed an appropriate moment to make the general point that good keyboard navigation shouldn't be a crutch for bad mouse navigation but a compliment to good mouse navigation, as I thought your original comment to Marshall had the potential to be misconstrued to the contrary.

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Interaction Designer     Oracle Corporation Ireland Ltd.
mailto:calum benson oracle com         Solaris Desktop Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Oracle Corp.