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

[Anzan Hoshin Roshi <anzanhoshinroshi gmail com>]

Hello Again,

2009/10/1 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

Thank you, Stormy and Rick.

Whether a right-click root menu is implemented or not (but as GNOME 3 is as yet far off so I ask it be contemplated), my issue is that I would like to use GNOME.

The stack is good (though sometimes precarious in Ubuntu so that a snag in Pidgin has sometimes required a reboot instead of just killing X and starting a new session) but the apps and basic framework are fantastic. I started out with apple in 1987, did Win 95 and up, tried Xandros (sound didn't work), then Vista finally gave me the final reason to not just use GIMP and OO.org and so on but a free OS. I've used GNOME in Debian, Gentoo, and Ubuntu.

Rebooting because I couldn't trace a problem with the whole GNOME DE loaded in Ubuntu made me look to Fluxbox for a more easily debuggable system,. which I find does what I need. But I still would like to be able to use GNOME. (I've tried KDE 3.5 and 4, Xmonad, Windowmaker, Awesome and so on.) I like GNOME. I will use its apps and underthings in and under Fluxbox. But I would like to be able to just use GNOME.

I am not a "poweruser". I use X, after all. And the monastics here at Zen Centre do not regard themselves as such. One said to me regarding this conversation today, "But I'm an old lady and I want a root menu at right-click." As forme, I just need to be able to get to and do tasks.

At the very least, I would appreciate it if GNOME devs bear in mind that the new "Shell" might or might not be useful to some new and old users but they could also provide a way for people to use GNOME without being distracted <i>by</i> GNOME and having to fiddle with obtrusive imaginary artifiacts to get to a workspace, document, or file. The Desktop is not a place, it is just a metaphor for a file. Right-clicking there (or even on any file) could give a menu option. If chosen, then users would be able to just do what they want to do instead of flinging the cursor about to aim st this or that cartoon image.

Please, just do not make the "Shell" unavoidablle and provide easily acessible means of configuring the DE.

Thank you for your patience in reading this. And thanks also for your work on FLOSS. My teeth would fall out without it.

Yours,
Anzan Hoshin
http://wwzc.org