Re: [Usability] Inconsistent file size units

["Kalle Vahlman" <kalle vahlman gmail com>]

2007/7/15, Raphael Bosshard <raphael bosshard gmail com>:
> Hello there!
>
> One of the most outstanding points of the GNOME desktop is the focus
> towards usability and consistency. This is one of the reasons I'm
> using GNOME. There is, however, one thing that has been bugging me for
> quite some time now: the inconsistency in the use of file size units.
>
> I guess that most of the readers know the problem of using SI units as
> prefixes for file sizes and similar power-of-two values, so I won't
> elaborate on this point. Readers new to that topic I point to [1].
>
> To 'fix' the problem, some of the GNOME applications have started
> using binary prefixes. This creates inconsistencies; not only are
> users forced to deal with two different units for the same thing. Now
> this is not a problem for experienced users, but it somewhat
> complicated to explain this to non-technical users.

FWIW, this was discussed on the i18n list

 http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2007-May/msg00109.html

where AFAICT the stronger opinion was towards using the binary
prefixes (with the usual amount of people stating intent to refuse
such things).

Don't remember seeing it on desktop-devel yet, so perhaps re-sending
to there might be approperiate (both i18n and usability lists have
narrower audience and d-d-l is where the discussion and eventual
consensus should be happening).

--
Kalle Vahlman, zuh iki fi
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