planet gnome comment

Max J. Werner ubuntu-devel at maxwerner.de
Mon Aug 29 17:42:14 CDT 2005


Thom Holwerda schrieb:
>>I would also prefer the spatial mode as default. The browser mode is
>>just ugly, _so_ last-century and really obsoleted by the new tree mode
> 
> I don't want to start a flamewar, but I still have to say: might be last
> century, but it still is what most people are used to... If Ubuntu wants
> to target Windows converts, setting the default Nautilus mode to
> browsing mode is simply the best setting.

Hi,

there are two major possibilities to target Windows converters:

1. Provide them with a GUI which looks and behaves exactly the same as
the Windows GUI

2. Provide them with a GUI which looks and behaves like usability
studies and such say it should.

Obviously number 2 is the better solution, even if the former Windows
users need to learn more. But in the end they are provided with a
superior GUI and experience which they could never have with Windows.

There are so many things which Microsoft Windows does which are totally
unintuitive and against every usability guideline. But people are so
customized to this faulty behaviour that they think it's the best. We
know that this isn't true!

So if you provide a Windows user with an OS which behaves and looks like
Windows, what benefit does the user gain with Linux? (from the user
experience view, of course. Things like higher security and such not
taken into account.)

Learning to use a GUI like Gnome or KDE is no rocket science (contrary
to learning the GUIs of Photoshop, Quark XPress etc.). People will learn
 it and they will then see how much better a clean and well designed GUI is.

So don't try to make applications behave like Windows apps only because
you are targeting Windows converts.

Just my € 0,02,
Max



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