[Usability] Usability?

[Hynek Hanke <hanke brailcom org>]

> > > On Thu, 16 Feb 2006, Thomas Winwood wrote:
> > > It is true that in the balance between simplicity Gnome has gone for
> > > simplicity first and only now are people really starting to look at
> > > ways to add back the flexibility without making a horrible mess.
> > Really? I thought it was always about making everything work so that
> > it was not _necessary_ to tweak it, which of course doesn't mean that
> > people would not _want_ to tweak it.
> Cannot please everyone.  There will always be a few who will want to tweak
> things but as you say would should able to set thing so most users never
> need to.

Are you aware that it might not be possible to set things ,,so that most
users don't need to tweak anything''? I'm not saying it is or it is not
possible. But did you think of the option that it might not be possible?

Can someone please explain to me the metodology of this group?
Is it people sitting and thinking and proposing what is best
for the ``canonical user'' or is the group trying to get feedback
from real users (request features, confusing things etc.) and
fix these things?

Also, can you explain the concept of the ``canonical user'' to me?
Because, strangely, I don't mean them. (which doesn't of course mean
they are not most Gnome users, I don't know...). Do you have some
data about real users, which would show there really is something
like the ``canonical user''?

Also, is there a list of usability problems that people regard
as serious for their needs where I could contribute? Are you
interested in me sending a couple of items to such a list?

Also, what is the method for solving such usability problems?
Because I imagine they mostly lie in different Gnome components
or even result from a combination of different parts of Gnome.
Is there someone working directly on usability or are such
issues reported to the maintainers of the software?

Thank you,
Hynek