Re: More on GTK usability
2006/3/8, Peter Eckersley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: Hmmm, I do seem to have started quite a thread here.It seems that there are a stack of relevant observations:Someone made the excellent point that users expect consistentbehaviour across applications on their chosen platform. Now for me, and many other desktop *nix users, the platform model we have isthe shell. Having the gtk1 chooser behave like a better version of theshell was great.Of course, for the "desktop converts" that GNOME is trying to win, this does not apply and will never apply unless someone sitsthem down and and takes the time to show them how to do funky stuff withthe shell. So there is an inherent problem: you don't really know what the "platform" for GTK is. I agree. The programers and power-users, need to know about how many peaple exist with the same capabilities you have?. Is it a program to the mass or for your own use? Do you want a lot of options and key combinations, to do the same or may be allow the user to image what he can do? or make the program "Just Work", for the rest of us.If the *nix desktop is moving in that direction, someone should really get around to building a new command line shell that is GUI-fied anddoes things the same way. But that's another project :) And need to do so, to win the "normal" peaple to use the software you'll develope in a power full plataform, where the programer can shoose the thecnology and automate the task for the end user. We need to thing in How to improve the productivity of the end user. Thing on the peaple, like me, that need "Just Do the Thing in the Rigth Way", and not modify files, learn about commands with a lot of dificult options just to "open a file in a quick way". -- Trabajar, la mejor arma para tu superación"de grano en grano, se hace la arena" (R) (entrámite, pero para los cuates: LIBRE) ___ gtk-list mailing list gtk-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-list
Re: More on GTK usability
Peter Eckersley wrote: > control-u to blank the line, anyone? Put gtk-key-theme-name="Emacs" in ~/.gtkrc-2.0 I almost broke a bottle of champagne when I discovered this gem on a random webpage :-) > someone should really get around to building a new command line shell > that is GUI-fied and does things the same way. People have been trying (and failing) to do it for ages. You're welcome to design your own version. I wish you success! Toby -- Signed/encrypted mail welcome. GPG/PGP Key-Id: 0x15C5C2EA ___ gtk-list mailing list gtk-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-list
More on GTK usability
Hmmm, I do seem to have started quite a thread here. It seems that there are a stack of relevant observations: Someone made the excellent point that users expect consistent behaviour across applications on their chosen platform. Now for me, and many other desktop *nix users, the platform model we have is the shell. Having the gtk1 chooser behave like a better version of the shell was great. Of course, for the "desktop converts" that GNOME is trying to win, this does not apply and will never apply unless someone sits them down and and takes the time to show them how to do funky stuff with the shell. So there is an inherent problem: you don't really know what the "platform" for GTK is. If you're going to assume it's a serious lowest-common denominator, a la Mac OS (which I've used a lot and find to be slow and awkward), then please just make a way for us old school shell types to keep our platform as an optional setting. We'd even be happy to edit a config file somewhere to turn it on :). I think the theoretical best outcome would not be this "two personality" solution but rather: something that is 100% compatible with shell-based user behaviour, with all of its quirks (control-u to blank the line, anyone?) but which simultaneously offers new users an intuitive way to discover all of the same powerful functionality. Or alternatively, I'm willing to sacrifice 100% compatibility and learn a second set of conventions for the sake of converts if I have to, provided that the new interface is as efficient as the shell (efficiency = keystrokes per task). GTK2 isn't. I'd nominate the openoffice.org solution as a good example of something that breaks a few shell conventions, but does so consistently and without sacrificing much efficiency (though it doesn't handle dotfiles perfectly, that could easily be fixed). If the *nix desktop is moving in that direction, someone should really get around to building a new command line shell that is GUI-fied and does things the same way. But that's another project :) -- Peter Eckersley Department of Computer Science & mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] IP Research Institute of Australia http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~pde The University of Melbourne ___ gtk-list mailing list gtk-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-list
