Re: [Usability] Re: on gconf-edit

[Maciej Katafiasz <mnews22 wp pl>]

Dnia 11-10-2004, pon o godzinie 21:41 +0200, Robert Fendt napisał:
> > Search and description were the big things I wanted to see change, what
> > else could improve?
> 
> Not having to use it at all would be a start. The XML tree structure is
> simply not meant for manual editing. 

What exactly is your concern -- "tree structure" or "XML" part? If XML,
it's moot point, since it's not exposed anywhere -- in fact, you can't
judge reliably what backend GConf is using from anything but the
conffiles for GConf itself. If it's tree what makes you uneasy -- well,
that's the way things work, and apart from RDF schema together with
reasoner engine and rich metadata searching and sophisticated matching
algorithms[0], I can't really think of anything immediately clearer and
more useful than tree. It's very good for reasonably grouping
_individual_ apps' settings into kindof manageable entity.

> It is most suited for automatic
> changes by 'external' software (e.g., initial configuration wizards) and
> for changes by the corresponding application software itself (e.g.,
> Metacity, Nautilus etc.). For example, the Metacity options should be
> completely available in the Metacity configuration dialog, possibly with a
> half-hidden 'advanced' tab. There should not be a single option forcing me
> use the gconf-editor. Same is true for Nautilus and virtually every GNOME
> component with a configuration dialog.

"Advanced" is one of biggest failures in UI design[1], it's like saying
"OK, we failed to make things clear and comprehensible, so here you are,
hope you can get something useful from that". It also sucks because of
implicit assumption (that goes more towards "experience level", but
button also gets its share) that if I want to change some MagicFoo, I
also am knowledgeable enough to know (and use, and dig through) heaps of
"Bar amplification", "Baz reciprocal coefficient", "Footron algorithm
for non-linear scheduling of subatomic guinea pigs" which also landed in
that big bag of $random_hard_to_grasp_concepts.

Incidentally, Metacity is in big need of nice, HIGgish, useful control-
center capplet[2], so anyone who did one would make world a great favor,
and, by the rule of winner, could also smuggle in some slightly random
options in (hint, hint :). After all, not all apps are Epiphany, are
they[3]? We can let some of more useful crack in, just keep it under
control ;)

Oh, and to keep traffic low to one post, I'll stick it here: the initial
wizard thing just doesn't fly -- you either have experienced user who
doesn't want no dumb wizards and is well capable of setting his
environment, or new user, who simply cannot make educated decision
without evaluaing possibilities first and is only going to get
panicked / annoyed at yet another window demanding he reads it and makes
some decision. Either is bad.

[0] Which quite obviously would be silly, in case someone missed
<sarcasm></sarcasm> enclosing the sentence ;)
[1] Although "Advanced" button isn't nearly as bad as "user experience
level" setting, which is total disaster and Hell's Lords ruling over
world
[2] At least it was last time I checked
[3] As much I respect Epi guys' dedication to newest-and-greatest in
GNOME and very strict UI rules, I think in case of Epi "simple" has
gotten too far, and was actually "dumbed down", rendering Epi unusable
for me. <holy_war kind="browser"> Man, I *really* wish Galeon team had
enough manpower to make it as integrated as Epi is, and Galeon be made
default browser, and relieve world of hunger and poverty :) </holy_war>

Cheers,
Maciej

-- 
"Tautologizm to coś tautologicznego"
   Maciej Katafiasz <mnews2 wp pl>
         http://mathrick.org