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

[Phil Bull <philbull gmail com>]

> Phil, what you write sound like you are using the desktop as a big
garbage bin.

Personally, I don't. But have you ever taken the time to look at a few
end-user desktops? Yesterday, I was sitting in front of a family
member's Windows XP system. The desktop is a mess; I counted maybe 30
icons, many of them rarely used, & also a few recent files they'd been
working on. These objects were not ordered in any way, except the
order they were dragged onto the desktop in. Now I know this is a
different desktop than GNOME/Nautilus, but the principles are the
same. What I've noticed over the years is that:

*   Most users don't want to spend time managing their desktop
*   Many users spend the best part of 30 seconds looking for the
    right launcher on their desktop
*   Most users will dump files on their desktop from time to time
    simply because they might be in a rush & the Desktop link in
    the 'Save...' dialog is closest
*   Quite a few users intend to neaten things up, but never get
    around to it
*   The problem is so bad on Windows that there is a Desktop
    Cleanup Wizard.

So you see, this is why I disagree with adding more management and
more complexity to the desktop.

> The desktop should not clutter

I know users don't HAVE to use the feature you're proposing, but the
fact is that some will use it, and they'll end up with horrible, messy
desktops, "a big
garbage bin". And then they'll complain that they can't find anything
on their GNOME desktop! If the desktop should not be cluttered, then
why should we help people clutter it more?

-- 
Phil Bull
philbull.tk