I'm sure Mac users have the same problem with "smart folders". And I agree with most of what Frank says.
This whole notion of being able to take a query and represent it as a folder or other such collection is powerful, but it is very, very far outside of the conceptual model that most people have of their computing environment. Except for keyword searches, most people find the notion of a query very challenging. To somehow "store" one is even harder. To then represent it as a folder just adds an obscuring layer on top of that challenging abstraction. Even worse, of course, is the fact that most people really don't fully understand filesystems, and often are operating out of habit and faith there. (on top of all this, I've never been highly clear what problems these would actually solve for ordinary users :-) david On Fri, 2006-03-10 at 10:46, Calum Benson wrote: > 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 > >
