Re: An object Oriented File Manager Design

["Manuel Amador (Rudd-O)" <amadorm usm edu ec>]

Sean Middleditch wrote:

> I agree whole-heartedly with this.  Even a technical user can be lost
> without knowledge of what options are available.  A technical user has
> the advantage of experimentation and previous knowledge - we know what a
> context menu is, and have a good chance of thinking "hey, what does the
> context menu give me?"  Untrained, unexperienced, or unwilling-to-learn
> users aren't going to do this.  It's that last groups that's the biggest
> pain in the ass, yet I find myself having to do with them the most doing
> support (then, that isn't surprising in after-thought).  These people
> need the cues and guidance on how to go about the task they are trying
> to accomplish, and not be forced to really on understand of desktop
> paradigm.
Well, to add flames to the fire, why don't we seriously consider popping 
up the context menu when holding the primary mouse button too?  That 
way, you can provide a simple status bar message "Click with the mouse 
to select an item; keep the mouse pressed (or use Ctrl+F10) to see 
options for that item".  That's a visual, and if it helps not provide a 
menu bar or unclutter it, I'd vote for it.