Re: Middle click, "dumbing down" Slashdotted

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

Bill Nottingham <notting redhat com> wrote:
> Large changes in terms of the interaction paradigm, such as the switch from
> GNOME 2 and GNOME 3, can be problematic for users, but by presenting them
> with a very different interface, it can essentially 'force' a retraining,
> that can be assisted by docs, introduction videos, explanations of why the
> big change, and so on - "here's the new method, learn it, and go."
>
> Continual iterations in terms of the feature set is a great thing for users;
> things like "I upgraded and now I can add my GMail contacts", or "this new
> music player is much better" are great, and add value.  As they are
> generally either additive in nature, learned as a new application, or
> interacted with in fundamentally equivalent ways (such as the new status
> menu), they don't have a lot of cost of adaptation.
>
> Continual iteration *in terms of the interaction paradigm*, is incredibly
> user-hostile, though - it looks pretty much the same as before, so they
> attempt to interact the same way as before.  But scrollbars now act
> differently.  Or their middle mouse button might behave differently.  Or the
> menu for some of their applications moved entirely to someplace it wasn't
> before.  Etc.  And if this happens with a different minor thing with each
> release - they get gunshy.  And they start saying "Oh what did GNOME break
> now?" To quote Christina Wodtke - "User don't hate change. Users hate change
> that doesn't make anything better, but makes everything have to be
> relearned." And the "doesn't make anything better" is in the user's mind -
> it's where the value needs to be communicated to.

Sticking to the topic of text selections specifically (since general
discussions on mailing lists are the road to hell) - we won't make
changes in this area unless there are clear benefits to users. I think
there is a compelling case to be made for improvements to text
selections, and it is something that people will appreciate. I also
think we can make changes without too much disruption. The devil will
be in the detail of course, and we'll have to wait for the designs to
be fleshed out before having a serious discussion.

Allan