Re: GNOME Usability - General Questions

[Seth Nickell <snickell stanford edu>]

> -People aren't going to switch from the Mac or Windows to GNOME unless the 
> transition is made VERY easy.

Agreed. Of course, we'd also like to attract new computer users (the
majority of the world still), so something of a balance between adopting
Macintosh / Windows conventions and looking at avoiding their quirks
needs to be struck.

> -Ideally, I'd like to be able click one or two buttons to get these GNOME 
> general settings:
> 
> 	(1) Easy (Tivo/Internet Appliance)
> 		(a) For Former Windows User
> 		(simplified settings/controls/help instructions displayed in ways similar 
> to Windows)
> 
> 		(b) For Former Mac User
> 		(simplified settings/controls/help instructions displayed in ways similar 
> to Mac)
> 
> 		(c) For New User
> 		(simplified settings/controls/help instructions displayed in the most 
> intuitive way)

We can do a *lot* better than Windows at the "internet appliance" level.
Neither MacOS nor Windows begin to service this need, part of the reason
being that they are (quite frankly) not reliable enough to be on and off
appliances. People shouldn't even think they are operating a computer to
do things like write papers, look for information online, or write
e-mail. But I suggest that although the GNOME development platform might
be an appropriate base for such an undertaking (indeed, to make it
feasible you'd need to start with a dev platform), its a very seperate
entity from the GNOME interface (and shouldn't be tied to such). I have
some neat ideas about slowly *morphing* such an interface in a "safe"
manner into GNOME as the computer feels a user could benefit from
learning a new technique (say, multiple windows if they are switching
tasks a lot), but also allowing people to use it at as simple a level as
they want.

> 
> 	(2) Intermediate (Mac/Windows level of complexity)
> 		(a) For Former Windows User
> 		(settings/controls/help instructions displayed in ways similar to Windows)
> 
> 		(b) For Former Mac User
> 		(settings/controls/help instructions displayed in ways similar to Mac)
> 
> 		(c) For New User
> 		(settings/controls/help instructions displayed via a somewhat simplified 
> GNOME)
> 
> 	(3) Advanced (Allow user full access to OS and configuration)

This is a dangerous game, though I'm not saying its the right road to
take. User settings can bite both ways. On the one hand they allow you
to remove obscure options and choices (particularly dangerous or archane
ones) from the view and immediate grasp of users for whom it may not be
appropriate. On the other hand...different people will learn different
things at different times. Often it can be alienating when you know a
feature is buried *somewhere* but its not visible because you are at the
"wrong" user-level. One approach to this is to have userlevels only
change defaults, not visible options but that has its own drawbacks.

Have you played with this system in Nautilus yet?

-Seth