After reading lots of usability discussions here I feel impelled to give my 2 cents to the ongoing discussion. I am a quite experienced user and have experimented a lot with desktop themes, button order, compiz settings etc. to find my most efficient desktop. Moreover, I've tried a lot of distributions and now stick with Ubuntu (like it or not). I fully agree with all design decisions of the Ubuntu guys and think it is the right direction: window buttons on the left (menu, toolbar etc. are on the left too), the libindicator thing to name a few. Ok, so far my personal opinion (not really important I think ;-) More important: Watching my girlfriend how she is using her computer is always very interesting for me. I'd call her a regular non-tech user. Things totally clear and obvious to me are so confusing to her. And that's because of UI design! I want to list some points that confuse her and should be addressed by a good UI design: * context menus: why do I have to right-click here and left-click here? * toolbars: the meaning of toolbar buttons is often enough not clear and regular users are frightened to just click something (my friend always uses Edit->Cut and Edit->Paste from the menu; the 20 toolbar buttons are just too tiny und obscure to her. And she writes texts for her studies not that often to get used to it.) * consistent interfaces: interfaces really need to be consistent: It's quite a huge step for a regular user to browse a menu and look for a certain feature. To hide menus behind another button is not good, IMO. Example: Google Chrome - most applications (OO.org, Firefox, File Manager) have a menu with Edit... And now explain to a new/regular user why in Chromium you have to click on the small button on the right side to access such functions. * window/application switcher: where is my window gone? * notification area: please use it just for notifications. It is totally unreasonable why you'll will have to click into the small area where the battery is displayed in order to install the Adobe update (this holds for Windows but the principle applies to Ubuntu as well) These points are just the major ones. What I wanted to say is to keep the focus on the regular non-tech users with their low learning curve. And there are even less experienced users (mothers, grandparents...maybe not speaking english): so, what the h*** is a browser. Thanks a lot, keep on you guys. Jean-Peer
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