Re: [Usability]Attempt at constructive criticism - "Why Gnome 2 sucks for me"

[Aleksander Adamowski <olo altkom com pl>]

bordoley msu edu wrote:

> First, titling an email post "Why Gnome 2 sucks for me" is hardly the way to 
> offer constructive criticism as it is more likely to encourage a hostile 
> reaction from the target audience of the email.
OK, maybe I were a bit impolite. But at the time of writing I was 
frustrated with the envoronment and the frustration got through... (BTW 
apart from that, I'm a very calm person).

> As someone who is currently stuck using windows machines most of the time and 
> who has been using the windows for 8-10 years, I have to say that the new 
> button ordering, while odd at first, has proved to be a real delight. The UI 
> is now consistent. In fact I have grown so use to the button ordering that 
I don't understand. Consistent with what?
And if opinions about button ordering are so divided, why is it not a 
settable preference? Or maybe it is, and I just couldn't find it - but 
that would indicate that either help system or Control Center need 
redesign. I _was _ looking for it.

> There has been some discussion of adding a revert to default option for these 
> dialogs. That said, I really dont think this is that big of an issue, 
No, revert to default wouldn't be good - the user doesn't care about 
defaults as much as about the actual previous settings (before the 
change), whether they were at defaults, or customized.

E.g.:
Imagine a user that has finally decided upon a theme he likes best. He 
has set that theme and since then he worked in Gnome for some time. Now 
he doesn't remember the theme's name, he enters Control Center, and 
mistakes e.g. GTK themes for window decoration themes. So he sets a 
different one - and instantly starts to regret that single mouse click 
because he switched to a different theme! Not having the previous 
theme's name in memory, he now has to try all the themes (there are 
dozens) untile he re-finds his favourite.

So it shouldn't be "revert to defaults" (I can delete dotfiles from my 
$HOME, thank you), it should be "undo last change".

> personally. I think of instant apply dialogs like light switches (this holds 
> pretty well for check boxes) you just flip the switch. The keyboard shortcut 
Not all settings are two-state.

> capplet is one dialog where a revert to default button would probably be a 
> good idea though, since a user could probably very easily break keyboard 
> shortcuts.
Not only keyboard shortcut setting is n-state. And what about UI 
consistency? This button (undo last change) should be omnipresent in 
Control Center.

--
   Olo