Re: Nautilus CD Burning -- the file DVD box

[Benjamin Sher <delphi123 zebra net>]

Patrick Jacquot wrote:

Le samedi 15 avril 2006 à 12:00 +0200, Peter Chabada a écrit :
  

Benjamin Sher píše v Pi 14. 04. 2006 v 13:22 -0400:
    

I am sorry to disagree. The ///burn location looks like a protocol.
There is no way in the world to guess that you are supposed to place
the files from My Computer BELOW this in the empty, blank space that
could mean everything and nothing. Why cause your users to agonize
over something that a simple arrow and/or explanatory text can easily
prevent. After all, isn't Nautilus CD Burning meant for the ordinary
user? I'll bet even more experienced users will be baffled by the
present situation. I have never seen a program that is so simple made
so agonizingly complicated to the point of madness.
      

I think Nautilus Burner is very simple but its approach is not common
and users don't expect burning that way. I personally prefer "standard"
applications like Gnomebaker but that applications are not so intuitive
for newbies. For newbies is Nautilus Burner better but there should be
some hints how to burn.

To make Nautilus Burner more intuitive I suggest put in places sidebar
Burn location so users will be able drag and drop files on it in single
window (I can do that on my own but newbie not). And when user goes into
this location when is empty, there should be text (in icon view) like
"To add files and folders for burning drag and drop them to that window
or to Burn location in places sidebar." And maybe to not have lots of
specialized locations in sidebar it could be burner device itself (if
there is inserted blank or no CD). Think about what would be better.

Screenshot at http://chabada.sk/better-desktop/img/nautilus-burner.png

-- 
Peter Chabada

    

It's also possible, when using as sidebar the tree view, to drag files
to the "new CD" directory in that sidebar.
In fact, the "///burn" behaves like an ordinary directory. You can paste
files in it, remove files from it. I consider that as quite intuitive.

--
Patrick

  

Dear Patrick:

Here is an example of what I mean. Someone suggested adding a small, rectangular folder on the left for the DVD files. Very confusing and NOT intuitive. The number of files is usually very large and covers a large amoung of space. That is why I suggested changing the ///burn line altogether, replacing it with something like: "Please retrieve all your movie files from you /tmp/dvd folder or whever they are", then putting a big, very big rectangular and horizontal box right beneath that line (to be separated by a green line) at perfect equidistance from each side. Now the user intuitively knows that what he is asked to do is to copy and paste and dump all those 30 or more files into that big box. Now add the "Create DVD or Burn DVD" button and that's all there is to it. No misunderstanding of any sort. Everybody is happy. Especially the user, who was looking for a simple CD burner, not an exercise in rocket science.

That's my contribution. I am quite confident that it is the right one and is certainly far more suited to the new user than the present one. You will have a lot more happy users.

Benjamin