Re: [Usability] Printing dialog in GNOME

[michael chang <thenewme91 gmail com>]

On 12/14/05, Till Kamppeter <till kamppeter gmx net> wrote:
> michael chang wrote:
> > On 12/14/05, usability-request gnome org <usability-request gnome org> wrote:
> >
> >
> >>>What about a "manual duplex wizard" instead of/in addition to odd/even?
> >>>With pictures, like one sometimes finds in Windows printer drivers.
> >>
> >>Do people really still bother with manual duplex printing that
> >>much these days when many printers come with duplex support
> >>already?
> >
> >
> > Yes.  Look at the consumer printer market.  Not to mention who knows
> > how many people are still using their older inkjet printers from 1997.
> >
>
> I read often "Manual Duplex" in consumer printer advertizing. And that
> means usually that the software coming with the printer has such a
> manual duplex wizard. If we provide it from the OS or from the desktop,
> we can say "Duplex on every printer, either manual or automatic".

Well, I wouldn't go as far as "every printer" - some printers have no
auto-duplex and they have closed paper feed trays.  Re feeding a sheet
back in a machine that requires a complex tray-opening system would be
annoying.  Although yes, technically, it would still be a manual
duplex on that printer.

*If* (and this is the big selling point) it can be made working, then
I see nothing wrong with it as something extra.

> >>Supporting manual duplexing right requires a knowledge of how
> >>the pages come out (face up or face down), but I suspect this
> >>behavior would be best implemented by providing a duplex option
> >>in the dialog and triggering a special two-job submission mode in
> >>the GUI rather than requiring the user to say "print the front
> >>sides" and "print the back sides".
> >
> >
> > If this wizard is implemented in a higher level and there is a
> > configuration option, you could configure this once with a few test
> > pages (e.g. print like A, B on various pages and ask how they come out
> > of the printer, e.g. orientation and ordering, then repeat with C, D
> > on the same pages reinserted into the printer...) and then have it
> > automatic as an option in programs.  However, this would have to be a
> > per-printer setting...
> >
>
> Great idea. Simply add a "Set up wizard" or "Calibrate wizard" button
> and this starts a wizard asking at first for how the in/out tray on the
> printer are places (in horizontal at bottom, out horizontal on top like
> most lasers and most HP injets, vertical at back and vertical at front
> like HP LaserJet 1100, vertical at back and horizontal at front like
> Epson inkjets, ...), then print test page AB and ask where A and B are
> placed, ask for putting back into input tray, print CD and ask where C
> and D are placed. Save settings and let the manual duplex wizard use
> this info to show pictures how to take out the stack with the odd pages
> printed on and how to put it back into the input tray, so that the even
> pages get printed the right way.

Of course, this goes against the 'it just works' philosophy - it would
work if we could get it integrated into the printer's initial setup,
preferably when installing the OS or something, if such a thing is
necessary.

Or you can quasi-copy windows and pop up a window/balloon/message
saying "Printer XYZ has been found and automatically detected.  Basic
functionality is now available in most applications.  If you wish to
use advanced features such as manual double-sided printing, please
click on this balloon to start the 'Printer Setup Wizard'.".  [It's
probably more flexible to do that then to try and catalogue all the
duplexing behaviours of every single printer on the market now and in
the 5-10 years to come that the exact same GNOME will be used on.]

Other issue is copyright - we'd have to make sure we weren't
infringing on anything with this (I would imagine not, but...) -- the
only reason I got this idea is because I remember some Windows
applications didn't bother using whatever duplexing (if any) was
provided by Windows (you could use it if you wanted, but it wasn't
necessary) and they had their own internal manual duplexing system and
wizard.  But that was on a per-application level, and I had a couple
of those, so setting them all up the same way was kinda repetitive.

> > That said, the coding would be irritation for such a thing, I'd say.
> > It would take a while to plan such an application, and then a while
> > longer to write it out.  Not to mention figuring out interoperability
> > with other things... *sigh*
> >
> > Asking the user to print only the fronts or only the backs may be
> > useful if he recieves a unique document.  I believe OpenOffice.org
> > does this too, even in things like Windows - but I'm not sure if
> > that's lazyness or something, or if that was an intentional part of
> > the design.
> >
>
> A manual duplex wizard would be the best.

The idea is interesting.  Now the hard part: implementation.  But I
don't have enough coding experience to do it myself. :( My
understanding is GNOME is already ridden with ideas, at least to keep
every developer busy for a few years. I'll have to remember to mark
this one, just so I can check on it in a few years.

--
~Mike
 - Just the crazy copy cat.