On 10 Mar 2006, at 18:12, Frank Ludolph wrote: > Thanks John. > > Note in the following that users are quite confused by MS's > "virtual folders". While naming is part of it, the user model is > very broken due to MS's abusing the basic folder metaphor. A folder > is a container. To users a "virtual folder" also seems to be a > container, so a document seems to be two places, the Documents > folder and the Documents virtual folder. It takes a lot of > explaining that a virtual folder isn't actually a container. Users > lock onto their understanding of "folder" since most are > uncomfortable with the meaning of "virtual" and how it applies to > folders. This just isn't part of a user's world knowledge. "Virtual > folders" will continue to cause lots of confusion until the > underlying metaphor is changed to something entirely different, > e.g. some sort of "list" - lists don't contain things, they refer > to things.
Hmm. Wonder if Mac users have the same problem with "Smart Folders"? (IIRC, these are also available in GNOME 2.14 as "Search Folders", but possibly only if you have Beagle installed.) Cheeri, Calum. -- CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer Sun Microsystems Ireland mailto:calum.benson at sun.com Java Desktop System Team http://blogs.sun.com/calum +353 1 819 9771 Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems
