Re: [Usability] Gnome's biggest failure. By far. Stone-cold evil.

[Andy Owen <andy-gnome-usability ultra-premium com>]

On Wed, 2009-08-19 at 19:08 -0700, Jim March wrote:
> My laptop runs 1280x800 resolution.  I just ran an app that seems to
> have re-sized me a lot smaller while it was running - 800x600 at a
> guess.  When I came back out, resolution went back to normal but my
> panel is absolutely scrambled to hell and gone.

Is this the bug?

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=492315

That seems like the closest I can find to it on bugzilla... so if that
isn't it, then a much more constructive way of getting it looked at
would be to create a bug report. Or add any related information to that
bug report, if it is describing the same thing.

> 
> PLEASE, for the love of God, there has to be a fix for this?  It's
> intolerable.  And after three years that I know of and likely over
> double that with this insane glitch, there's just no excuse.

We all have our own frustrations. Obviously this bug isn't intolerable,
because plenty of people tolerate it (or are like me and don't even
realise it exists). What I would suggest as a better way of getting it
fixed is to take your request to the right people. I don't think the
usability list is a great place for bug reports (e.g. if your mouse
doesn't work, although that is a bit of a usability problem, this list
probably isn't going to be much help).

Bugzilla is the best way to start out. Otherwise, you might be able to
catch a developer on irc and if you are extra nice to them, maybe they
will hear your plea and take some time to fix it for you. But just
remember that this is probably not a bug that affects them, since
otherwise they would have fixed it already.

When I think about the problem, it is somewhat tricky, in that there are
some corner cases which are tough to figure out. For example, what if
your panel is really full, and you bump the resolution down? What if you
change resolution from A to B to C and back to A. Should this return all
your icons to exactly the same spot? What about if you go from A to B,
move an icon, then back to A? Answering these questions comprehensively
is difficult, even if your intuition says that it is obvious.

> 
> End the madness?  Please?
> 
> Jim March - just a poor user...
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