Re: [Usability] Desktop management. - Discussions topics proposal.

[Kirk Bridger <kbridger shaw ca>]

I think the description sounds like a series of scenarios or use cases 
that are the focus of the design.  The pattern library might be too 
abstract or might not address "workflow" on the desktop.

The problem I've found with trying to create these kinds of things is 
that they tend to live in isolation, they age quickly, and they usually 
aren't used since devs are trying to improve or change the workflow via 
product improvements.

In the past some projects have tried capturing scenarios of use in their 
persona or user definitions [1].

Some years ago I was involved in trying to define a set of "Gnome Users" 
or personas that could help guide development [2].  That ended up being 
too large of an undertaking at the time and I ended up leaving it 
alone.  The critical discovery I made then was that there was no point 
in doing all that work if nobody was going to use them or adhere to them.

I agree that the vision is an interesting one, but for a FLOSS project 
the size of Gnome I'm not sure how feasible it is.  That being said, the 
pattern library is a not so small attempt at increasing coherence across 
the desktop, which may be another way to achieve your desired goals.

Kirk


[1] http://live.gnome.org/Banter/Design/Personas
[2] http://live.gnome.org/UsabilityProject/Whiteboard/Personas



On 02/09/2012 07:43 AM, Calum Benson wrote:
> On 7 Feb 2012, at 22:46, Paweł Kubik wrote:
>
> > Why should we do such discussions? Some of you might say that solving such problems is an individual matter. I wouldn't like to force anyone to do something specific way. I'd like to simply create some public database.
> Sounds quite similar to the GNOME 3 Pattern Library we've been working on as part of the new HIG[1]… at the moment, it's scattered around live.gnome.org and git, so it's not really ready for public consumption yet. But hop on over to #gnome-design on irc.gimp.net if you'd like to help out.
>
> Regards,
> Calum.
>
> [1] http://live.gnome.org/Design/HIG/