Re: [Usability] The Desktop: useful or just a relic?

[Matthew Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

Bosshard Raphael (bosshrap) wrote:
> ...
>   Is the desktop useful (or is it just a relic from ancient times?)

As Thom and Alan said: Yes. :-)

> Most people I know use the desktop  (the thing in the background where
> all these funny icons are) to store data. They create folders with names
> like "Music" and "Private" and "None of you business" and put stuff into
> them.

Good.

> But whenever they want to access them, they use the file-picker,
> because the application they are using is concealing those nice folders.

The filepicker is the real relic from ancient times. It's a relic from
the days when (a) disk access was expensive, and (b) the Mac could only
run one application at once, so the Finder couldn't run at the same time
as other applications. As a result, you had to do all saving manually,
and you couldn't do it with the Finder, so this "filepicker" thing had
to be invented. So now, even on multi-tasking OSes whose designers
should have known better, we have two inconsistent interfaces for
performing the same task of putting things in folders: filepickers, and
the file manager.

It's true that if you've become comfortable with the inconsistency, and
learnt how to use a filepicker well, it is sometimes more efficient than
filing stuff with a file manager. But that's mainly because filepickers
have been subjected to over 20 years of "we have to use this thing for
filing, how can we improve it" focus. If we'd had to use file managers
for filing instead, I have little doubt they would have been improved
just as much over that time, if not more. Even now, filing in Nautilus
is more efficient than filing in some common filepickers, such as the
one used by Mozilla Thunderbird. And Web browsers are increasingly
downloading stuff straight to the desktop, rather than putting up
filepickers -- correctly assuming that filing downloads later with the
file manager (possibly filing multiple items into the same folder at
once) is quicker and less annoying overall than putting up a filepicker
for each item.

It's also true that implementing real-world-style filing would be
difficult to implement for some applications, and would increase power
consumption on laptops, and so on. But those problems are solvable, and
that's the tail wagging the dog compared to the inhumanity of a computer
assuming that your work is worthless unless you explicitly tell it
otherwise.

> The desktop is the least accessible place on the screen.

That doesn't matter as long as you don't have to do your filing straight
away. You can leave stuff on your desktop until you have time to clean
it up, whether that be once a day, or once a week, or once a month. Just
like a real desktop. (Except that dumping stuff on your virtual desktop
doesn't make the surface uneven.)

> Imagine drag and drop: minimize application, open folder, open folder,
> open application, move application to the left, move folder to the
> right, drag file into application, close folder, close folder. Silly.

Why would you have to have the application open while doing the drag and
drop? That's just another side-effect of the manual saving model from
1983, the model where you're forcibly prevented from closing a document
without filing it (or destroying it) first. Silly.

> What about a different to store data?

Something like this: Whenever you create a new file (without using a
template to create it in a particular folder), it's put on the desktop,
and any changes are saved in the background every couple of minutes
(perhaps less often if you're using a device with battery power). Then
you can file the document somewhere else whenever you like -- whether
that be while it's still open (assuming programs smart enough to notice
when you move an open file), or ten seconds after you've closed it, or
hours, days, weeks, or months later.

If you create a document and decide, while it's still open, that you
don't want it after all, instead of choosing "File" > "Close", choose
the "File" > "Put in Trash" item immediately above it. (If you change
your mind about either of these, "Edit" > "Undo" will re-open the
document as well as returning it to its previous position.)

> What about a "sidebar" (instinct  anti-longhorn reaction expected) with
> all folders in the home directory?  Plus, maybe, some "persistent search"
> folders (All images, all  music-files by Jethro Tull, conversations with
> ALICE...).

I think it would be quite annoying if that much screen space was devoted
to something -- filing -- that I only do about once a week. A sidebar
might be useful for keeping templates and tools in, though.

--
Matthew Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/