Re: [Usability] Re: Menu order.

[Juha Siltala <juha k siltala helsinki fi>]

On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 11:55, Patrick Costello wrote:
> Juha Siltala wrote:
> > On Tue, 2004-08-10 at 16:01, Patrick Costello wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >>- Alphabetical ordering is standard UI design practise. Users worldwide are 
> >>accustomed to this approach.
> > 
> > 
> > As a GNOME user, and a computer user, I must disagree. I want things in
> 
> Do you disagree that alphabetical ordering is standard UI design practise? 
> Do you disagree that users worldwide are accustomed to this approach?
> 
> Or are you putting forward a personal preference that this is not the way 
> things should be?

I mean the latter, I am expressing my opinion.

> You quote one possible reason for change above, i.e. that an intuitive UI 
> would be more useful than a character-dependent framework. While this 
> argument appears to have merit, after all who amongst us would deny the 
> value of intuitive design, the difficulty lies in defining "intuitive". 

Yes. Defining "intuitive" is the most serious difficulty. Since it is
menu order we're talking about, it's extra difficult. I would say
"Accessories", "Internet" and "Office" should come before "Graphics",
"Multimedia" and "Games", based on criteria like importance and how
often we need certain apps. But then, someone might say "Programming"
and "Graphics" are more often used.

I guess data about real usage of apps is hard to come by, we'd need
something like Debian's popcon. :)

> - Change the default?

Not just for the hell of it, or because I would like it. :) Like you
say, "sound reasons" have not been established.

> - Provide a customizable menu order option?

That might be an option, but it should be "advanced" or
gconf-editor-customizable. I do like to customize the Windows menu.

-- 
Juha Siltala
http://www.edu.helsinki.fi/activity/people/jsiltala/