Re: [Usability] New way of accessing software (WAS: Re: Big Panel menus (32x32))

[Janne <jan moren lucs lu se>]

On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 11:55, Mark Finlay wrote:
> Ok, currently Ximain and Redhat have their "More"/"Extras" menus, which
> rock IMHO. But currently Redhat/Ximian make a decisison as to which
> applications go into extras and which don't. What if Ximain/Redhat only
> choose the default applications to be in the main catagory. Then when
> the user uses an item from the extras menu it gets moved up to the main
> one: So the main one acts as "The most used applications related to
> catagory X". Possibly total crack, but just and idea.

There is a general problem with mechanisms like that. People very often
find stuff by their relative position ("it's in that menu, then a third
of the way down, with the short text"). Any mechanism that destroys that
spatial mapping is apt to become very frustrating unless it is done
_very_ carefully and predictably.

One way might be to mirror the "recent files" mechanism: have an area at
the bottom of the main menu with room for, say four to six apps, and set
the most recently used apps there - without altering the menu content
itself. That way the menu structure itself remains static and
predictable. And since we aren't touching them, it's fine to experiment
with statistics to show the most recently - and heavily - used apps, so
a one-off usage of some app won't push away an app that is being used
all the time.

I could even imagine a drawer-like interface to this that the user can
place in the panel or on the desktop that also mirrors the same apps.
Eugenia's idea about doing statistics on files could be used to have a
nautilus view of the most recently/heavily used files as well - if it
can be done without requiring too many people to clear out their machine
and reinstall with a different fs. Maybe nautilus current mechanism for
keeping track of file changes could be employed for this?




-- 

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Tel.    +46-046 222 8588             Dr. Janne Morén (mr)
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