Re: [Usability] Requesting a right-click root menu for GNOME 3

[Rick Spencer <moephan yahoo com>]

I agree with Stormy. It's not an "either/or" discussion. New users and frequent users should both like the system.

Probably the easiest way to get a list of what usability is "about", is to start with Jakob Nielsen's list of heuristics for his heuristic review method. This stuff has stood the test of time.

The "power user" heuristic is:
Flexibility and efficiency of use -
Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.

wikipedia has a good write up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic_evaluation

--- On Thu, 10/1/09, Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org> wrote:

> From: Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org>
> Subject: Re: [Usability] Requesting a right-click root menu for GNOME 3
> To: "Karoliina Salminen" <karoliina t salminen gmail com>
> Cc: "Anzan Hoshin Roshi" <anzanhoshinroshi gmail com>, usability gnome org
> Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 7:39 AM
> Usability is not just about making
> things easy for novice users. It's about making an
> intuitive interface for people - all people.
> My understanding is that many of the difficulties arise
> in the trade offs between the types of users.
> Stormy
> On Sep 30, 2009 11:36 PM,
> "Karoliina Salminen" <karoliina t salminen gmail com>
> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 5:30 PM,
> Anzan Hoshin Roshi
> <anzanhoshinroshi gmail com>
> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> >...Hi,
> 
> 
> 
> Can you explain how is this power user feature is related
> to usability?
> 
> You apparently are not a representative of normal users at
> all.
> 
> Normal users don't know key shortcuts and right click
> configurable
> 
> this and that,
> 
> they want a plain, simple, slick and cool user interface
> they can click, pan,
> 
> maybe zoom, etc. These right click main menu (like it
> appeared
> 
> originally already
> 
> on fvwm when I was a kid) schemes are so 80s to be
> sincere.
> 
> 
> 
> It is a good idea to support power user features, but
> design should never be
> 
> built around the power user features because that is not
> usability for
> 
> normal users,
> 
> that is fast way to work for very advanced users, maybe
> 0.01% of the users.
> 
> 
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Karoliina Salminen
> 
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