Well I'm just a mere user, but I've been using e for a number of years. I've a couple of comments on your points from such a user perspective.
On 06/13/2010 03:56 AM, Lachezar Petkov wrote: > Hi crowd, > > Here are my thoughts on some usability issues in E. What bugs me atm > is that I'm working on the icons for the dialogs in the conf panel, and > I think there are too much dialogs and some could be merged or removed > altogether. I am aware that a redesign of the whole panel is planned, so > my ideas may help. Actually, if it's going to be an icon view-based > thing, then we kinda must merge some of the dialogs, otherwise its gonna > be huge. > > > ---Dialogs--- > 1) Colors, I think can easily just be a tab in the Theme dialog, since > its just customizing the theme. > 2) Icon theme - this one can be very confusing for every gnome/kde user, > since they'd expect that all icons - in E or in 3rd party apps will > suddenly change. And thats how it should be, I see this as a design > disadvange of the "everything in one .edj" approach. Anyway, I think > this can easily go in Theme as well. > 3) Mouse Cursor - the same. > 4) Scaling - I'm not sure what this dialog does at all. It's tiny and > not well explained. We NEED tooltips for idiots like me. > I agree with this it has always been unclear to me as well. > 5) Dropshadow - move to Windows part of the panel. I think it makes much > more sense, since its totally related only to windows, it doesnt put > dropshadows under text or theme elements or anything like that. > I disagree, dropshadows change the look and feel (appearance), same goes for compositing which is also in look. > 6) Apps > Problem with naming this Apps is that its not about applications > themselves, but application launchers. On the other hand "app launcher" > is long and probably no good for not tech-savvy users. > I think only one dialog where people can create launchers and put them > in place would be enough. Also simple checkboxes "launch on startup" and > "launch on restart" would be more than enough, no need even for separate > dialogs (that even sound confusing), I think. Also, if the user wants to > start an app when E start, I think its obvious that he/she would want > this app to restart when they restart E (or when E crashes). So that > questions, the "restart applications" thing altogether. > 7) Windows. I guarantee right now a typical user would just say "holy > shit". I know i do :-) And I'm not even sure about most of the stuff > here, but I'm sure we can merge some of these, rename some of them, add > freaking tooltips, etc. > I agree on the tooltips, but those options should be there people (including me) use them > 8) Menu settings -> Menu preferences? Also, this one seems kinda broken > - Advanced shows exactly the same content, but in tabs.. > What's wrong with settings? > 9) Client List Menu - who's client? what menu? ;-) > 10) Language -> Localization > Actually as a non-english speaker I find localization a lot less intuitive than language settings, because really that's what localization settings are "language settings" > 11) Input Method Settings - I really don't know what this thing does. > 12) We can merge Mouse Settings and Bindigns into one dialog with tabs. > Not sure about Interaction (not sure what it does) and Edge bindings. > 13) Don't think we need Settings of the Settings. The user can make E > remember the position of the windows in other ways and a checkbox "don't > show this in the future" in the confirmation dialogs would be much better. > I disagree, a place where I can set these would be good. Maybe at some later point you decide that you want to see the confirmation dialogs, but you previously checked the "don't show this in the future" where would you change that? > 14) Profiles may go in Look& feel or Advanced. > 15) The mixer doenst need a dialog on its own in the conf panel. I disagree, I think it's a good thing that there is a central location where all configuration goes. > 16) Pager's setings can be accessed with right click on it, no need for > conf panel dialog. > Same comment as above, I really dislike having to look for different configuration items at different locations. Having a central location for all configuration is "a good thing" > 17) Gadgets is totally useless? To my understanding it adds a gadget to > the desktop.. there are much clever ways to do this. > see above > 18) File Icons - this thing should be removed altogether. Its ugly, > complicated and pretty useless. Just because when you click on a file, > see it settings you can assign it a custom icon, there is just no need > for this thing. Not to mention the huge, confusing list of mime types. > > --Menus--- > 1) I dont think that Fav apps should be in the manin menu by default. > Its more than easily accessible via right click. > Strongly disagree, the Fav apps is the most used item in my menu. I never use right click. > 2) Files - should be disabled if icons on the desktop are enabled. It > takes space and doesn't do a better job compared to clicking on your > home/root/whatever icon on the desk. > This should be a choice of the user, even if I have icons on the desk, I might want to use the menu item, because I don't want to move my mouse all the way to the location of the icon. The menu is a quick way of accessing things, without having to move the mouse. > 3) "Run everything" just sounds confusing. As in "run everything you > have at once" or something. Have to think about it more. > 4) We have the Shelves conf dialog where the user can add and edit > shelves, why is the Shelves submenu needed? > Again quick access. > 5) A simple gadged with an icon on the shelf would be better for > "show/hide all windows". As an addition to this menu, not as a replacement. > Isn't there a module that does this? > 6) Enlightenment -> theme is useless and has to be removed. Its > confusing since users would think that would lead them to the conf panel > to change the E theme An "about this theme" button in the theme conf > dialog is THE solution. Restart and Exit could be moved to system. Then > leave one "About Enlightenment" entry in the main menu. > 7) Do we really need the configuration shortcuts? I think just one > "Settings" entry would be enough, no submenus. A good example is the > Shelves submenu - the user can access the Shelves settings by right > clicking on any shelf AND thruough the config panel itself, I see no > need for it in the main menu. Same for the rest of the things there, I think > Again quick access, the most often used configuration items are quickly accessible with the menu, that's great. I find having to right click on a shelf a lot more inconvenient, especially because what appears depends on the contents of the shelf. My 2 cents > Thanks, > Mano > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ThinkGeek and WIRED's GeekDad team up for the Ultimate > GeekDad Father's Day Giveaway. ONE MASSIVE PRIZE to the > lucky parental unit. See the prize list and enter to win: > http://p.sf.net/sfu/thinkgeek-promo > _______________________________________________ > enlightenment-devel mailing list > enlightenment-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ThinkGeek and WIRED's GeekDad team up for the Ultimate GeekDad Father's Day Giveaway. ONE MASSIVE PRIZE to the lucky parental unit. See the prize list and enter to win: http://p.sf.net/sfu/thinkgeek-promo _______________________________________________ enlightenment-devel mailing list enlightenment-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/enlightenment-devel
