Re: [Usability] search is not easy to find aka "a few minutes with gnome virgins"

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

[Removed CC's.]


On Fri, 16 Jun 2006, Michael Gilbert wrote:

> Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:19:21 -0400
> From: Michael Gilbert <michael s gilbert gmail com>
> To: horkana maths tcd ie
> Cc: 371882 bugs debian org, usability gnome org
> Subject: Re: [Usability] search is not easy to find aka "a few minutes
>     with gnome virgins"
>
> Alan Horkan wrote:
> >The run dialog can be useful in this case.  If you know the application
> >name and type it in then if it is installed the icon will appear in the
> >dialog and when you hit okay the application will run.  If you do not know
> >the application name (why not?) the run dialog (or some versions of it at
> >least) have an expander which opens to show a flat list of available
> >applications.
>
> The users were having trouble finding a "find files" application in
> the applications menu.  The did not even attempt to find the program
> they were looking for in the applications menu.

Accomodating users is one thing but it is difficult to help users who are
unwilling to even look through the Applications menu.  Having said that
Novell have their own redesigned setup (which may already be available)
which does in fact include a search widget directly in the main menu.

Mockups can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamehack/sets/1506658/

> >A package manager like Synaptic might be a good way to check what programs
> >are installed, it also includes a search tool.
>
> Synaptic is a confusing mess.

I see you added Debian to the CC list, since Synaptic is a Debian only
program not Gnome I will let them comment.

> avoid it.  I still avoid it...but only because I apt-get is so much
> easier and direct.

Ubuntu inlcude a simpler frontend to Synaptic which makes things easier
for basic adding and removing of programs, you might want to try it.

> > A file search is intended for documents and other user files
>
> > If you are looking for programs you are not expected to use the file
> > search.
>
> I don't think we should be in the game of telling the user how she is
> to use her computer.

I dont disagree.  I was describing how thing are and how best to work
around them rather than the ideal situation.  The _intention_ of the
designers was that find tool would be for finding documents rather than
programs.

> We should be making it as intuitive and broadly useful for the user to
> user her computer.  If she expects to search for executables or system
> files (due to her poor os upbringing) then it should be perfectly
> reasonable and obvious for her to do so.  we should not be forcing
> anyone to learn the unix way (find and locate).

Since you had already given up on the graphical user interface I was
explaining how to get more out of the command line, I would not have
mentioned it otherwise and I believe if a user feels like they "need" to
user the command line the real issue is the Desktop needs to be improved.

> well maybe it would be useful for the find dialog to say something like,
> this is what i'm doing 'find / 2>/dev/null | grep fname' click here to

It is good to try and find ways to reduce the learning curve of the
command line but I'm not sure this idea would really work well as part of
the graphical user interface.  I do think it would be great to have a page
in the documentation of the Find tool explaining or introducing the
command line alternatives.

> learn more about how to use the power of the unix shell to enhance your
> computing expertise.
>
> thanks you for your thoughts.

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

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