Re: [Usability] Re: on gconf-edit

[Maciej Katafiasz <mnews22 wp pl>]

Dnia 13-10-2004, śro o godzinie 16:00 +0200, Reinout van Schouwen
napisał:
> > [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>
> 
> Well, since you asked for it :-)
> 
> a) How can "simple" ever go too far, and why do you claim Epiphany is 
> "dumbed down"?

Because there's point when there are two HIG recommendations broken: 
1) Keep user in (direct) control
2) Keep user informed

1) is obvious, and 2) makes things look like that old "blackbox" game,
where you need to figure out stones placement in box, having light-rays
ins and outs as only clue. Thus it indirectly breaks another HIG rule,
"keep mental model simple". This maybe doesn't relate as much to Epi
(I'm not able to think of concrete points where it makes things hard to
grasp, short of implicit "Downloads" folder, as I don't use it very
often), but is big annoyance with Gossip, which is very similar in its
UI strictness. I am active user for several months now, but still have
vague understanding of how things are supposed to work around there,
which severly cripples user experience. Apps should be simple as in
"making things simple and easy to understand", not as in "making things
appear magic, which is better to be left alone". Voodooizing things is
very bad, it keeps user from transitioning from "newb" to "proficient
user" easily.

> b) Have you checked out epiphany-extensions, and does it leave any of 
> your power-user needs unfilled?

Yes. Particularly I miss scroll-on-middle-button, it's totally
indispensable feature for me, and also gestures support -- existing
extension is not good, since it overtakes middle button, while I want it
to be right one, and doesn't allow me to configure that. There are also
other things that come up in actual use (does Epi support smart
bookmarks and magic URL expansion, as in "gg foo" -> "search foo in
google"?), but these two spring to mind immediately

Cheers,
Maciej

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