Re: [Usability] Re: Suggestion for the actual UI of GTK+'s New FileSelector

[Uno Engborg <uno webworks se>]

Reinout van Schouwen wrote:

> On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, Uno Engborg wrote:
>
>  
>
> > Ericks dialog is also more similar to filedialogs from other windowing
> > environments such as KDE and Windows. I really think that we should try
> > to unify how a dialog used this often looks like in various environments
> > as much as possible.  Especially since we can expect users to mix and
> > match applications on from various toolkits on the X desktop.
> >    
>
> <rant>
>
> If for every UI decision, we had to take 'mix and matching' users into
> account, we'd probably be no further than fvwm95 by now.

True,  but in the real world people do mix and match, and not taking 
this into account,
most people end up with desktops that are far worse than win95.

> IMHO, GNOME is not about imitating other windowing environments, but about
> creating the best possible environment for newbies and experienced users
> alike. The whole concept of a file selector is a relic of the past, when
> 11" monitors were the state of the art. But since people have come to
> expect them so much, let's at least try to design one with a bit of
> original thinking. And I have to say that Ericks' and Eugenia's proposals
> look like a step in the right direction to me.
> </rant>
I'm not suggesting that we should imitate other desktops.  I'm merly 
saying that there is
little need to invent something for the purpose of inventing alone.  If 
we see things
that are good in other desktops we should see how that can be 
implemented/improved
in Gnome, but not look for ways to make them different if we don't have to.

Unfortunately we have a lot of historical luggage to carry. For that we 
only can blame
old time open source developers that usually had the macho attitude, 
that if you can't
do it from the command line it is not worh doing, and people that can't 
use a "simple"
command line are stupid.

Luckily this have changed. But we lost valuable time where Xerox Parc, 
Apple,
and to some extent Microsoft, defined what a GUI is to most people of 
today.
This means that if we do something that is completely different from how 
similar tasks are carried
out in these systems, we will increase the effort needed to learn our 
system to most
of our potential users.  So if we do it completely different we must 
make sure  it
is that much better, that it is worth that extra learning effort. If  it 
isn't we should
stay with a similar solution.

E.g. it would probably be possible to dream up a keyboard layout that 
could improve
typing speed. In fact there have bin several people that have tried. But 
most of us still
prefer QUERTY because the effort to learn a new keybord isn't justyfied 
by the increase
in typing speed.

In this case putting the location shortcuts on the top of the dialog 
have little extra value
on screens that are tall enough to support it, and problems on small 
screens. New
users comming  to Gnome from Microsoft or KDE  and would have an easier time
identifying the shortcuts as shortcuts if they are in a fammiliar place, 
and people
that mix and match will have a more consistent desktop experience.

And as I said, if file selection normally is 3 step process, there is 
something wrong
with the default directory selected when the fileselector is opened.  
Then we should
fix this instead of adding an extra step to the fileselector.

/uno



> regards,
>
>