On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 8:12 AM, Dave Bauer <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 9:01 AM, John Watlington <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> When OS X starts up with a search box open > >> instead of a blank desktop we'll know we are there :) > > > > What a nightmare ! I'm sorry, but once you move past trivial amounts > > of information, correctly specifying the search or filtering through > > the results of a loosely specified search takes forever. My laptop has > > over a half-million files on it, with only a small fraction of my > > photos/music/movie collection and no files older than five years old on > it. > > > > I use iMail and Spotlight as much as the next Mac user, but finding the > > right mail from (who was that ?) on (what month/year was that ?) about > > a common topic can be very frustrating. Whereas the spatial > localization > > paradigm works wonderfully for me (perhaps as it is how I find things in > > the physical world ?) If I want to find something again, I put it in a > > certain place in my desktop/hierarchical file system/office/home. > > > > I can understand that. What if you forgot where you put it last year? > I either don't remember where/how I filed something, or I specifically > didn't think about it, because I knew I could search for it later. I > remeber instead, the keywords I can use to bring something back up in > a search. Maybe it's functionally equivlant, we should get MRIs to > find out :) > > More relevant, has anyone studied how typical users manage a > hierarchal filesystem? Do they put everything straight into My > Documents? I don't have a large sample size to compare. There > definitely is a spectrum of users. Casual home users who mainly use > email and the internet along with downloading photos or videos from > their camera. Small office users, corporate users with a WAN, users > without persistent internet etc. > I know there might be places that I dont want anyone to wonder off, so I have it pretty deep in my filestructure not to popup just randomly. Having a search based paradigm will also present a risk just like google searching for the wrong "Swedish Girls" semantics in Google Images. > > I am sure someone has, but I haven't ever looked for this type of > literature beyond reading a couple of books on web site usability > years ago. > > Dave > > >> For me, I think these ideas, plus new ones we haven't thought of, > >> combined with refined user interfaces developd based on user behaviors > >> are the future. The more the computer can predict what you want, the > >> more it can help you get your work done. You just have to give it a > >> hint. > > > > Secretaries and personal assistants have done this for years, but I > > don't believe that AI is up to the challenge yet. > Most users use the desktop to store everything and I mean everything. Reminds me of an episode of the Website is down up in youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_Kfjo3VjU&t=7m54s (NSFW!) > > Of course, this doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve the current > UIs... > > > > Cheers, > > wad > > > > > > > > -- > Dave Bauer > [email protected] > http://www.solutiongrove.com > _______________________________________________ > Sugar-devel mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > -- *Alexandro Colorado* *OpenOffice.org* Español http://es.openoffice.org
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