Re: [Usability] Default Panel Layout

[thilo pfennig <tp alternativ net>]

Bryan Clark wrote:

> The 'Show Desktop' button on the bottom confused a lot of people into
> thinking it was a Windows style start button.  I got a number of reports
> of people clicking on it a lot trying to get the start menu to appear.
> I'm planning on removing that from the default for next release.
>  

Well that depends on the previous experiences. This desktop button is 
the same as it is on Windows. I think the Windows users will be quote 
happy about it. I am not using it, but I think it should kept.

> I'm considering putting the trash applet in the bottom left corner.  I'm
> not sure why Ubuntu chose the bottom right, maybe they can answer that. The bottom left seemed more appropriate for the GNOME desktop since all of our files drop on the desktop from the left to the right.
For me as a former Mac user the bottom right is also the right place. 
Where does Windows put the trashcan on default? I think we should not 
force users to have another logic on GNOME if there is no real benefit. 
I rather see left as possible start location and "show desktop". And I 
am very much against changing location of things often. I would suggest 
intensive testing for optimal use. Those tests should record if user is:

* GNOME user
* Windows user
* Mac user
* computer newcomer

Would be interesting how different users groups handle different 
settings. Our goal should be the best possible solution for most users. 
I would concentrate on new computer users, Also one should check how 
different people in China or Arabia might see/use things. I think if 
GNOME is the best Desktop for new users, that would be a good start. We 
should not focus too much on Windows/Mac- experience. That are many 
users we in the industrialized countries know. But that gives us a wrong 
image, because this is only a very small percentage of the coming new 
users. Hopefully China will jump on the GNOME train. That could bring 
many, many users and it could be very interesting for the development of 
GNOME. I think Microsoft will never be able to adapt chinese needs so 
fast. (BTW: How much chinese developers are there now?)


> I'm also looking into removing the Computer/Home/Trash icons from the
> desktop.  I saw that Ubuntu does it and I've read a research paper
> detailing how people didn't know the difference between items on the
> desktop that were theirs and items that were the computers.  Easiest
> solution to this is to make all the items the users items.
>  
Trash: yes, good idea. Because it often gets hidden. I think maybe 
somehow one should integrate the gdesklets for some functions fixed in 
the desktop. Just a quick thought that I just had (maybe its nonsense): 
Would it make sense to have a layer based desktop as a next step from 
the multiple desktops? There could be different levels of Desktops just 
like there can be many levels of windows. The bottom layer desktop could 
present folders like Home and Computer. Problem could be how to 
navigate. Maybe more like tabs. Tabs are better known to users. Multiple 
Desktops often are problematic to handle. I could imagein that some 
applications always open on the same layer. This layer could be 
something like a "communications layer" that consists of applications 
like "Evolution", "Thunderbird" or "Pan". Every desktop-layer could be 
different. So the multiple desktops are not used the same but for 
organzing applications and files. Maybe somebody can think this through?

Thilo

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