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

[Rich Baumann <biochem333 nyc rr com>]

On Fri, 2003-06-13 at 23:52, David Adam Bordoley wrote:
> The point is to make any all files easily accessible from a user visible 
> start point. The most obvious point is the desktop. By allowing access to 
> all files from the desktop we are not forcing the user to micromanage their 
> files. Users could always throw every file into a single folder on the 
> desktop and use the hypothetical search folders feature to better categorize 
> their files. (We could even include some default ones, like Music). 

That's rude. You are forcing the user to do things your way, and only
your way. I don't want all the latest garbage that happens to be in my
~/ to be on my nice clean desktop. The desktop should be a starting
point for getting at your most important stuff. Your idea of forcing the
user to either micromanage or to put everything in a subfolder is
essentially no different than the current situation. The desktop is in
one folder and the working home folder is in another, except, with your
approach, you're putting the burden on the user to keep the desktop
clean instead of defaulting to that. The only change to the current
setup that I think should be made is to make the desktop refer to a
non-hidden folder in ~/, like Desktop, so it's easier to find from
nautilus and the command line. Search folders would work just as well
from ~/Desktop as they would from ~/. Also, what do you propose be done
if someone already has ~/Music filled with oggs (like I do)?
~/Desktop/Music would be a much more convenient place to put the search
folder in that case.


Rich

P.S. Do you plan on hacking on nautilus to the point where it doesn't
take three weeks to view a folder, or do you expect us all to wait that
long to see our desktops? I guess I shouldn't complain... were it not
for nautilus, I might not be a command line junky. ;)