Re: [Usability] 2.8 feedback

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

I am very reluctant to answer this message at all due to the hostile
language and tone but I will try very hard to respond politely.

I'm a Gnome user with an interest in usabilty, not a programmer.
I do what I can to help improve Gnome.  I speak only for myself.


On Sun, 20 Feb 2005, Mr Mike wrote:

> Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 00:50:28 -0600
> From: Mr Mike <mike ejecta net>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] 2.8 feedback
>
> I can't tell you how dissapointed i was when i fired up gnome 2.8 in debian
> sarge just to find out you still haven't implimented any kind of visual
> feedback to the user when they click on a desktop icon to let them know the
> app is loading..

I am sorry to hear you are dissapointed.

> Geesshhh...  how long is it going to take to get THAT little item
> working?

That kind of comment is not helpful and unlikely to encourage people to
correct the problems you are having.

There must be a problem with Debian.  It is also possible that there is a
problem with the specific application you chose to open.  Startup
notification has been added to many applications but not all (and there
are good technical reasons for this that I wont go into).  Try a core
Gnome application like Gedit or EOG and it is much more likely to work.

You should see the cursor change to an hourglass or something similar to
indicate that something is happening.

> Another immediate problem is the lack of desktop text configuration
> options...  I'm stuck with some text color of 'gnomes' likeing depeding
> on the background.  Now what's THAT about?  What if I prefer yellow text
> with some kind of dark gray background?  How the world do I do that?
> And, on the subject of backgrounds.

I believe that is hooked into the theme settings but I'm not sure, perhaps
some one else will answer your question.  The general idea would be to get
the defaults right for a whole theme and not need to tweak the detials
very much.

> You still don't have an image 'preview' so I can view the images as I'm
> browsing them.  Soooo..  i have to use another application to view them,

There are many programs available for browsing collections of images.  I
have a preview in my file chooser (not sure what version exactly) which
seems like enough for managine a handful of background pictures but if you
file a bug report perhaps a preview could be also added to where you are
expecting to find it.

> make notes on ones I'd like to 'maybe' use as backgrounds, then go back
> and use one of the gnome desktop options to change it and HOPE it looks
> as good as I had hoped.  On top to that, I have to do that for ALL the
> images I had identified as potential desktops.  I would be inclined to
> use gnome more if you would make it a little more user 'useful' ...  To
> be COMPLETELY honest, i wonder ....  never mind...  it's not worth
> getting my panties in a wad over..

I think developers were aiming to keep setting a desktop background simple
and had in mind users who occassionaly set their background rather than
more advanced user like you wanting a much more flexible and complicated
system to manage a much larger selection of wallpapers and change them
more often.

Different people have very different ideas of what features would be most
useful and the developer might not consider it a priority to work on
adding more functionality to the desktop backgrounds.

> I'll just keep using fluxbox and dream of the day when Gnome is really user
> 'useful' as KDE...

I'm trying very hard to be polite but it seems like you are deliberately
trying to start an arguement.

> ps:  don't get me wrong, I don't use kde because of the QT libs but they do
> have desktop and application configuration issues that should motivate you
> every day to try and atleast catch up SOME..

I hope you can reread what you wrote and see how it is not likely to
elicit a favourable response or encourage developers to make the kind of
changes you are requesting.

If perhaps there are specific details you would like to see changed
it might be helpful if you were to file a request in Bugzilla.
http://bugzilla.gnome.org

I hope that when Gnome 2.10 comes out in the next few months it will be
more to your liking.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan