Re: [Usability] GNOME 2.6+ usability: points of critique

[Robert Fendt <rmfendt web de>]

And thus spake robsta stereolyzer net
Mon, 11 Oct 2004 15:37:53 +0200:


> Unlike other desktop environments GNOME has a well defined target
> audience. HP put it very nicely once by saying something along the
> lines of "There is no point in making another KDE/Xfce/whatever
> because they exist already".

Sorry, no offence meant, but what you are saying exactly proves my point
about arrogance. Who decides who uses the application? If it is flexible,
then advanced users will use it, too. If it is too restricted, even
newbies will not use it, at least not for long. And what is the point?
Once I used GNOME long enough to become aware of its deficiencies, then I
left the target audience and have to use something different? When
something that worked perfectly for me up to version x and does not
anymore in version x+1, am I not allowed to complain? Just because someone
decided that the particular feature is not needed? It simply does not work
that way, sorry.

> It's hard for me to see the reason for a complaint when all you have
> to do is uncheck some switch at first launch.

The point is about usability. Searching for each and every option
considered "too advanced" for the average user in gconf is not something I
consider very user friendly. That is Microsoft and Windows behaviour,
sorry, and is _exactly_ the reason why I have been using Unix and X for a
long time now.

> Again, you are a long time GNOME user. What's the point if you change
> the setting once and stay happy forever?

What's the point of changing the default without asking me in the first place?

> > 3) Somewhere along the way from 2.4 to 2.8 (I am not exactly sure
> > when
> > since my reference installations are 2.4 and 2.8) the possibility
> > to
> > dock views into Nautilus was either dropped or hidden so well that
> > I
> > could not find it again. Up to 2.4, I usually configured Nautilus
> > that
> > HTML and text documents are shown inside the browser window. In 2.8
> > that
> > does not seem to be possible anymore.
> 
> Re-read your statements. You also configured earlier versions of
> GNOME. So why start complaining now?

Please re-read my statement, too. I am saying that the feature vanished.
It cannot "be configured" again. At least I have not found it until now,
and other posts in the thread indicate that it was indeed removed.

> > 4) Simple details of themes, like the size of icons in applications
> > cannot be modified. The icon size and arrangement of most themes is
> > almost ridiculous. At least on a 1024x768 laptop screen. Simple
> > possibility to reduze size and space between icons? Not that I know
> > of.
> 
> I find it quite usable if there are just icons and no text below.
> Still, work towards "scalable user interfaces" would most likely be
> appreciated by the gtk developers.

Again, the problem is that what I find usable and what you find usable
will naturally differ. As it will for many users. Everyone is different in
his/her preferences. So it _has_ to be configurable.

> > 5) Every directory having its own view settings in Nautilus is
> > nice, but
> > absolute nonsense without a "set this view for all" function. If it
> > does
> > exist, I did not find it. And manually changing the settings for
> > every
> > directory I ever visited is quite tedious.
> > 
> > Those points are mostly minor annoyances, treated separately. 
> 
> This might be a nice occasion to get off you ass and write a script
> instead of just complaining. You might make some people happy ...

So, you suggest I write a script to go through Nautilus' config file
hierarchy and change it manually? Well... no.

> Sorry for that very rude reply, but the things you bring up have been
> discussed over and over again. Please read the mail archives.

I find it interesting to note that if these points have indeed been
discussed before, I am apparently not alone with my opinion. Still nothing
has changed.

Regards,
Robert