My two cents. Advice: Listen to Wolfgang (earlier posts), whoever he is. I vote with him.
To elaborate: One of the reasons I dumped the DOS version of Microsoft Word and switched to WordPerfect back when personal computers first started becoming prevalent was that only HALF the screen was devoted to the user's document. Fast forward to Microsoft Word for Windows. The reason I finally dumped WinWord for good was that, while I was aware of several annoying bugs that were present from its earliest incarnation, they remain today even though the entire user interface changed significantly with several of the releases. The last straw was the version that came out at around the time Vista appeared - the one that introduced the ribbon. There was nothing particularly wrong or offensive about the new interface, and there were even some nice things about it - it's just that I'm one of the seven or so people on earth that actually use a word processor to write documents longer than two pages and don't wish to totally relearn everything in order to continue work on a document in progress. Unless there are some CLEAR IMPROVEMENTS in usability with a new interface, why do it??? Some examples: Let's change the keyboard layout to Dvorak, since that is clearly more efficient. Nope - it might be in theory, and possibly even in practice for a few folks, but even with documented advantages, it just isn't going to happen. Or, how about let's swap the positions of the cold and hot faucets in the shower to freshen up the interface? Stick to providing a choice of chrome or brass or whatever, and change the color of the wall tiles if you want, but leave the fundamental interface alone unless there is a compelling reason to change it - such as some new functionality that can't otherwise be accommodated. And, if we would like to step away from word processors to more general subjects, let's change the piano keyboard so the lower notes are on the right and the treble ones on the left. If my meaning isn't clear, here's an experiment to try: since those who propose writing new interfaces obviously think they have better ways of organizing things (and let's assume that to be correct!), wait until your wife leaves for the day, then go into the kitchen and reorganize the drawers and cabinets. If you could record and post the conversation where you are explaining to her how much more efficient she will be, I'd bet I'm not the only one who would enjoy listening. It's probably human nature to want something to look new and spiffy, or to reorganize everything, but a quick survey of this forum and other areas suggest that we as a community would be better served by thorough feature testing and such things. Sorry if this turned out to be a rant - my only excuse is that I'm old and just naturally cranky :) -- View this message in context: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Experimental-UI-for-LibreOffice-proposal-tp4042528p4056739.html Sent from the Discuss mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/discuss/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
