Re: [PATCH] Double-clicking on desktop background brings desktop up-front

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 30 Jul 2008, at 08:45, Nelson Benítez León wrote:

> What if the first time the user doubleclicks on the desktop  
> background we show a dialog saying:

I would say this fails the "Don't Make Me Think" test[1] (and also  
Ellen Isaacs' "Treat Clicks as Sacred" principle[2])... in general,  
people just don't really like to be interrupted with questions,  
whether they're performing a particular task, or just exploring the  
desktop.

FWIW, we also try to avoid "Don't ask me this again" dialogs in GNOME,  
where possible.  One problem with those is that it's not easy for  
users to find out what to do if they *do* want to be asked again,  
having previously decided that they didn't...

Cheeri,
Calum.

[1] Yes, I've just re-read that book recently :)

[2] From "Designing From Both Sides of the Screen".  She uses the  
analogy of the computer as a butler, to illustrate how pop up alerts  
can violate this principle... when the doorbell rings, would a good  
butler give you a couple of options about how to proceed, or just  
answer the darn thing? :)

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            GNOME Desktop Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems