Re: Workspaces [Re: [Usability] nautilus, panel, and metacity not acting as if the desktop was a single entity]

[Janne Kaasalainen <jpkaasal cc hut fi>]

On 15.7.2005, at 18.37, Phil Bull wrote:
> On 7/13/05, Eric Larson <elarson novell com> wrote:
> > But, I do think that pushing the user to consider grouping their
> > applications would be a worthwhile task to gain the advantages
> > of workspaces.
>
> This is just introducing extra window-management workload for the
> user, and I'm not sure the advantages will outweigh this disadvantage

Depending how this is to be done, I see this as a great risk as well.  
One thing I would encourage it is within application windows though.  
I've had some several problems with versions of gimp that use four  
slots/boxes/whatever for its menus.

> App grouping is potentially a pretty rigid organisational concept (as
> mentioned before, group-by-task or group-by-type), so I'm not sure if
> everyone will enjoy using it. I mean, look what happened with spatial
> nautilus...not all users like it, so their desktop experience has, to
> them, been degraded. Just because you like one way of working and it
> suits you doesn't mean other others will, and this has always been the
> problem with user interface design.

I might be slaughtered by this and thought as a heretic for  
questioning this users are always right. Not that you claim so, but  
many of my usability teachers and tutors from the past have.

First, there is resistance among the users to part from what they are  
used to. So, if you make a study with something and one of the  
options is quite similar to what the users have got used to, they are  
likely to prefer that one. Even if the other would be better in a bit  
longer term. Of course, there is a great risk with that too, since if  
you think you know better and in reality it doesn't work...

I've had a few experiences where user studies have shown the results  
that certain functionality should be included in a certain program  
and not to be an independent utility. However, the whole technology  
and concept was new to these users, so the common rules were/are not  
valid in this particular case. I'm afraid I can not speak more about  
that one till the first half of next year, but I brought it up just  
to mention that many these things depend on quite a few things.

> > On the other hand, multiple workspaces are nothing more than
> > "additional space", which is basically a dead-simple concept.

Just to note, I am agreeing with this one, in a way that it is too  
similar. In fact, it does not really solve anything with the pagers  
and lists of what programs there are active and how to identify them.  
One of the biggest pains I have is that the windows identify  
themselves by text, which means that once you have multiple windows  
your problems grow bigger and you end up wasting screen space or  
needing the workspaces. In a way I feel they are not solving the  
problem but treating it to some extent.

I don't have that good solution to it either, since text is  
horizontal element. Images might work for some, but icon design would  
not be my cup of tea.

I would like to offer at least that much, that different helper  
windows within an application would be treated as one. I am not sure  
what to think of documents, those are something that I could imagine  
easily clutter the window lists, but then those are ones that would  
be of interest to the user.


-JK