Re: [Usability] Open and Save dialogs, desktop vs home directory, exit/restart key-bindings

[Luciano Nocera <lucnoc yahoo com>]

Hi,

I would like to thank the author of the animated
mockups and add a couple of points to the discussion:

- "Advanced Options" is not really about options for
saving but rather a kind of "browse" in the save
dialog and really "browse options" in the open dialog.


-I believe that a direct view of the folder/dir where
the save occurs is an important cue for the user in
making sure that he is saving to the correct location
and that he does not use a name already present. Also
a lot of times I avoid typing the full file name
selecting first a file and editing. 

- Also note that "Advanced Options" does not play a
symmetrical role in save and in open.

The Windows 2000 dialog as pointed out has the nice
feature of presenting a direct access to the Desktop.
However it is redundant as you can access the desktop
using the drop down box so I never really use the
button. For the other direct access buttons in the
side pane I never use them... I would also agree with
the fact that Mac Os X seems to have the most clear
and effective interface.

Finally and on another somewhat related note after
installing RedHat 7.4beta3 I found annoying that the
gnome desktop was located in .gnome-desktop. Being
used to Window$, I tried to save an OpenOffice
document on the desktop and could not figure out how
to do so simply (files starting with a "." are not
visible in the file save of open office). Finally I
found an option in Nautilus to use the home directory
as the desktop. This and the fact that I (and my wife)
did not find a clean way to quit/shutdown/restart if
the mouse is not functioning were among the two most
important usability problems we found (I know
Ctrl+Alt+F12 is one way to go but a new user to Linux
would push the on/off button several times in a row
and trash the file system as my wife did :-)

Hope this is helpful,
Thanks to all for your work

Lucien

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Open and Save dialogs (MM)
>    2. Re: Open and Save dialogs (Sven Herzberg)
>    3. Re: Open and Save dialogs (Erik Pukinskis)
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 1
> From: MM <m menheere gmx net>
> To: Gnome usability list <usability gnome org>
> Date: 20 Sep 2002 12:07:54 +0200
> Subject: [Usability]Open and Save dialogs
> 
> Hi all,
> Gimp cut and paste is lame. So here they are. The
> fully interactive,
> user enhanced, emblem integrated, nautilus viewable
> (well it has
> tables), open and file dialogs. Try them out. 
> 
> http://home.wanadoo.nl/sbm/
> 
> MM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 2
> Subject: Re: [Usability]Open and Save dialogs
> From: Sven Herzberg <herzi gnome-de org>
> To: Gnome usability list <usability gnome org>
> Date: 20 Sep 2002 12:16:33 +0200
> 
> Am Fre, 2002-09-20 um 12.07 schrieb MM:
> > Hi all,
> > Gimp cut and paste is lame. So here they are. The
> fully interactive,
> > user enhanced, emblem integrated, nautilus
> viewable (well it has
> > tables), open and file dialogs. Try them out. 
> > 
> > http://home.wanadoo.nl/sbm/
> > 
> > MM
> 
> congrats, they're looking really nice and useful,
> but i've got one
> question:
> 
> is there any shortcut do save:
> - a file on the desktop, or
> - a file in the home directory?
> 
> (I know windows has these since 95 and i like it
> very much to have the
> desktop and 'My Documents' everytime just one click
> away)
> 
> --
> sven
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 3
> Subject: Re: [Usability]Open and Save dialogs
> From: Erik Pukinskis <erik pukinskis uconn edu>
> To: MM <m menheere gmx net>
> Cc: Gnome usability list <usability GNOME ORG>
> Date: 20 Sep 2002 11:31:56 -0600
> 
> On Fri, 2002-09-20 at 04:07, MM wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > Gimp cut and paste is lame. So here they are. The
> fully interactive,
> > user enhanced, emblem integrated, nautilus
> viewable (well it has
> > tables), open and file dialogs. Try them out. 
> 
> Loking good--these are improving a lot!  One
> question: why not just copy
> the Apple dialogs?  The element you added
> (back/forward buttons,
> duplicate location fields, view selector) don't seem
> that important and
> the elements you removed (New folder button,
> favorites functionality)
> seem to be pretty useful.
> 
> Erik
> 
> 
> 
> --__--__--
> 
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> End of Usability Digest


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