[Usability] Re: Reasoning behind default panel setup?

[James Clark <james opensourceaction com>]

I agree that a lower bar for comprehending the workplace-switcher
functionality would likely lead to increased usage, but I don't think a
splash screen is a very good idea.

I believe adding some descriptive text when the mouse pointer hovers
over the applet would greatly increase it's ease-of-use and make the
functionality clearer to anyone unfamiliar. 

I often check two or more workspaces before finding the grouping of
windows I am looking for.  Having a dialog similar to that in the
window-selector applet when one hovers the mouse pointer over each
workspace on the applet would make the workplace-switcher app much
easier to use, at least in my case.  I think this increased amount of
information being accessible from the applet itself would also help
users experimenting with it grasp what it is doing.  

My two cents

- James Clark

On Fri, 2006-01-13 at 12:00 -0500, usability-request gnome org wrote:
> It's very interesting to thing of switching desktops, as hiding
> applications! I've never thought of this because I understood the
> idea.
> I guess a cool thing to do that would help users is to maybe show a
> very
> brief 'splash' saying "Welcome to Desktop X" when users switch
> desktops.
> This would be really great because then it would give users a whole
> new
> paradigm. I personally love the multiple desktop idea. I even assigned
> shortcut keys F1-F4 to correspond switch to desktop 1-4. I find it
> easier and way more sane than Alt+Tab. 
> 
> So, I say don't remove the desktop switcher, just add the splash
> screen
> feature and let users in a very cool feature, otherwise they'll never
> learn see it (and never learn it).
> 
> -Gezim
>