Collapsing settings into chewable bits

[Vincent Trouilliez]

> Bug #10268 was closed with the suggestion that the topic be discussed on
> the ML or a Wiki, so I wrote up a Wiki page.  This details loosely the
> collapse of the many Gnome preferences dialogs ("Configuration Applets")
> into seven main Configuration Applets, leaving three of the original
> applets searching for a home in the other seven.
> 
> Review and discuss.  Abstract and rationale are explained on the Wiki.
> 
> http://wiki.ubuntu.com/CollapsedPreferences


Thanks for opening the discussion, it was much needed. The preferences
sub-menu is indeed very busy, and it's only going to be busier over
time, so better start thinking about it now. Same for the
"Administration" menu.
I understand that there is no easy/perfect solution though, and the guys
from the Gnome Usability Team must have headaches, head scratching and
hair pulling sessions when discussing this subject. The only thing we do
know for sure, is that we must steer clear away from the KDE mega huge
control center, and keep these old Macs in mind... sharp, clean and
simple....usable.
Thank God, at least we have the Gconf database, which let's us implement
advanced features without clogging the user's GUI. So if really we can't
find a way to make things simple, we can always move some options into
Gconf, to let us better re-organize/redesign the Control Center.

In the meantime, have you looked at this little piece on
Gnomefiles.org ?

http://www.gnomefiles.org/app.php?soft_id=767

It seems to be similar to what you described, albeit with less tabs, but
it's a starting point at least, and it exists, ready o be used. If I
understand well, the guy who did it is from Gnome and may implement it
in 2.12 depending on feedback. I quite like it, would be good to have it
in Breezy, at least for evaluation. After all, his other project, the
menu editor, made it into Breezy, despite being in its very early stages
(lacks features and polish).


--
Vince