Re: User home and Desktop folder; position in Places sidebar

[David Siegel <djsiegel ubuntu com>]

On Fri, 2009-12-04 at 11:50 +1100, Paul Trevethan wrote:
> On Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:37:22 -0600
> David Siegel <djsiegel ubuntu com> wrote:
> 
> > In the Nautilus Places sidebar, why are my Home folder and Desktop
> > folder with the disks, and not with my other bookmarked folders, as they
> > are in the Places menu? From a user's perspective, these are just
> > folders containing their stuff. How do we justify this placement to
> > users?
> > 
> > http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5161/screenshotli.png
> > 
> > 
> > (Left screen shot depicts current state of affairs; right mockup depicts
> > the change I'd like to discuss.)
> > 
> > David
> > 
> > 
> 
> I would think it has something to do with the fact that the existence of these
> two folders is 'system' generated & controlled, whereas the others are purely
> 'user' options.
> 
> Just a thought.
> Paul.

I am mostly concerned about what the user thinks of the positioning, and
not why HOME or Desktop are special cases in terms of not being
removable, or being placed there by the system.

My intuition is that users view the items above the separator as "disks and
system stuff" and the items below the separator as "my stuff". I
think it's not controversial that most users consider Home and Desktop as "my stuff",
so placing them in the top section, instead of near Documents, for example, is confusing.
To test, ask a lay user "do your home folder and desktop folder belong with your documents
and photos folders, or with your disks and trash; keep in mind that you cannot delete your
home folder." I'm willing to bet that users will choose the former.

Of course, Hilke's solution is great (http://www.bomahy.nl/hylke/blog/clutter-in-nautilus-sidebar/)
because it makes the groups explicit by labeling them, but this looks like more work than
simply moving Home and Desktop to the bookmarks section.

David