Re: [Usability] A Proposal for a new feature

[Luis Quintela Garcia <luisQU web de>]

Hi,
sorry for the mistake with the tar options. I unfortunately used an  
old graphic without checking the correctness.

>Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 13:13:06 -0400
>From: eigenlambda <eigenlambda gmail com>
>Subject: Re: [Usability] A Proposal for a new feature
>
> But it seems to me to be the equivalent of training wheels.

Yes, this is exactly my idea. I don't propose to improve the function  
of the terminal with a new widget. Surely the terminal doesn't need  
it. But the interaction between beginner and terminal is quite hard  
for beginners.


>Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 14:08:29 -0400
>From: Reed Hedges <reed interreality org>
>Subject: Re: [Usability] A Proposal for a new feature
>
>One thing to consider is this: if you're typing at a terminal,  
ideally you would
>be able to select options using the keyboard as well (even if  
interactively as
>you propose). Taking your hands off to use the mouse disrupts this.

Of course, when you are using the widget (it should be optional) and  
you know the current command, than you may continue typing and the  
widget gets updated automatically. An experienced shell user may not  
use it or he/she uses only some advantages of the widget like the  
open-file-dialogues for paths. Additionally the widget could offer  
accelerator keys.

>Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 21:13:21 +0100 (IST)
>From: Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>
>Subject: Re: [Usability] A Proposal for a new feature
>
>The orginal suggestion sounds a bit like Kaptain, a KDE utility  
which acts
>as a graphical front end to all kinds of command line utilities.
>http://kaptain.sourceforge.net/

You are right, the way Kaptain works is quite similar to my idea. But  
the goal is different. For me it is important that by using the tool  
the user learns to work with the terminal.

>If you are determined to get more people to learn to use the  
terminal an
>interactive tutorial (similar to vilearn) would probably be a good  
idea,
>anything else risks hiding away too much of what you might want to  
teach
>people.

Using a tutorial like vilearn is a good way for learning in an  
explicit manner, but I think learning by doing is a good idea.

Regards,

Luis