Re: [Usability] tools on the desktop

[Thilo Pfennig <tp alternativ net>]

Am Samstag, den 30.07.2005, 15:12 +0200 schrieb Alexander Brausewetter:

> I've also done a little mockup now:
>  http://f4ee.net/~alex/Device_eject_button.png
> 
> Some more details on the way I think it should work:

i don't think putting more functionality into a drop-down-menu is a good
idea. The core of my idea was to have something visible.

>From my experience many users are not used to handle drop-down menus
well. So menus are a bit advanced. For instance many people can only use
bookmarks inside a side-bar.

I don't want to suggest that we should not provide any menus... (that
would be stupid).

But I think simple functionality should be obvious to the user. I think
the solutions for a user should not be to tell him where he can set
things. Menus are Ok, for advanced functionality. I think
ejecting/(un)mounting should not be considered advanced. That's why I
like the automounting, although you sometimes can not depend on it. And
sometimes you do not even want an automatic mounting. I think the
mounting status should not be hidden from the user, nor should the
possibilty to unmount/eject be hidden.

If you look at a CD/DVD drive there are not very much buttons. Mostly
only the EJECT button. So for me the question is why we should NOT show
an obvious possibilty to unmount/eject. 

An ideal solution would be maybe if a device is not like a folder, but
something like a desklet that shows more possibility when clicking on it
or holding the mouse over.

BTW: Why is there no right-click possibility in the "places" menu? I
find it strange when an object like a ssh network connection behaves
different depending on if I use it on the Desktop itself or in the menu.

Another question: Is it really a good idea to have devices in many
places? Right now we have mounted network directories in

1. "Computer" (will this still exist in 2.12 as it does no exist in
Ubuntu?)
2. "Places Menu"
3. "Desktop

About the "places menu":

I like it somehow. The best functionality for me was, that I now have
removed ALL links to directories inside $HOME (I have dirs like MyTexts,
MyMusic, etc.). So the desktop now looks a lot cleaner. And this,
together with the usage of the Favourites inside the file chooser made
using GNOME a lot easier.

What I do not understand is why there is a "connect to server..." but no
"open place". I would expect this to be in a Places menu. I also think
that it is not very consistent. We have a "Computer" icon in there. I
would suggest that maybe "Computer" has a sub-menu where you find all
the things in it that "Computer" has.



Thilo
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