Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Link Dupont]

I've created a Gitlab issue to track the status of drafting this
article.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/Community/Engagement/Social-Media-and-PR/issue
s/14

On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 21:56 -0700, Link Dupont wrote:
> Thanks for your feedback everyone! I spent some time rewriting the
> article, and it has expanded into a much larger piece. I will
> probably
> be writing this as a separate article, or at least as a part of a
> larger article about GNOME.
> 
> Considering the size, I drafted it in a wiki page instead of a paste
> in
> an email.
> 
> https://wiki.gnome.org/LinkDupont/FilesDesktopIcons
> 
> I feel like the larger format was necessary to explain the scenario
> in
> more detail.
> 
> On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 07:10 -0700, Link Dupont wrote:
> > Thank you, that makes a ton of sense. I'll see what I can create
> > for
> > a
> > second draft.
> > 
> > Link
> > 
> > On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 09:42 +0100, Allan Day wrote:
> > > Thanks for reaching out about this, Link. I know from experience
> > > that
> > > writing about contentious decisions can be tricky to get right.
> > > 
> > > Liam R. E. Quin  wrote:
> > > ...
> > > > Remember that the only people made happy by removing features
> > > > generally
> > > > are developers...
> > > 
> > > I agree with Liam here. Introducing features that users
> > > appreciate
> > > as
> > > "technical debt" is only going to irritate them.
> > > 
> > > My suggestion would be to:
> > > 
> > >   1. Start with a more positive, user-centered, narrative: how
> > > the
> > > Nautilus developers are working to improve the experience for
> > > users.
> > > What they've done recently to do that, what they're planning to
> > > do.
> > >   2. The current draft makes the removal sound like an
> > > implementation
> > > failure rather than a technical design question. I think it's
> > > important to explain it in terms of the intrinsic nature of icons
> > > on
> > > the desktop - it's a very different file browsing experience.
> > >   3. Stress that the Nautilus developers do care about those who
> > > use
> > > icons on the desktop. Emphasise that alternatives have been
> > > considered. Argue that the people using those alternatives is a
> > > better
> > > option for them and for everyone as the code base moves forward.
> > > 
> > > Allan
> > 
> > ___
> > engagement-list mailing list
> > engagement-list@gnome.org
> > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list
> 
> ___
> engagement-list mailing list
> engagement-list@gnome.org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list

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Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Link Dupont]

Thanks for your feedback everyone! I spent some time rewriting the
article, and it has expanded into a much larger piece. I will probably
be writing this as a separate article, or at least as a part of a
larger article about GNOME.

Considering the size, I drafted it in a wiki page instead of a paste in
an email.

https://wiki.gnome.org/LinkDupont/FilesDesktopIcons

I feel like the larger format was necessary to explain the scenario in
more detail.

On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 07:10 -0700, Link Dupont wrote:
> Thank you, that makes a ton of sense. I'll see what I can create for
> a
> second draft.
> 
> Link
> 
> On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 09:42 +0100, Allan Day wrote:
> > Thanks for reaching out about this, Link. I know from experience
> > that
> > writing about contentious decisions can be tricky to get right.
> > 
> > Liam R. E. Quin  wrote:
> > ...
> > > Remember that the only people made happy by removing features
> > > generally
> > > are developers...
> > 
> > I agree with Liam here. Introducing features that users appreciate
> > as
> > "technical debt" is only going to irritate them.
> > 
> > My suggestion would be to:
> > 
> >   1. Start with a more positive, user-centered, narrative: how the
> > Nautilus developers are working to improve the experience for
> > users.
> > What they've done recently to do that, what they're planning to do.
> >   2. The current draft makes the removal sound like an
> > implementation
> > failure rather than a technical design question. I think it's
> > important to explain it in terms of the intrinsic nature of icons
> > on
> > the desktop - it's a very different file browsing experience.
> >   3. Stress that the Nautilus developers do care about those who
> > use
> > icons on the desktop. Emphasise that alternatives have been
> > considered. Argue that the people using those alternatives is a
> > better
> > option for them and for everyone as the code base moves forward.
> > 
> > Allan
> 
> ___
> engagement-list mailing list
> engagement-list@gnome.org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list

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Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Link Dupont]

Thank you, that makes a ton of sense. I'll see what I can create for a
second draft.

Link

On Mon, 2018-04-23 at 09:42 +0100, Allan Day wrote:
> Thanks for reaching out about this, Link. I know from experience that
> writing about contentious decisions can be tricky to get right.
> 
> Liam R. E. Quin  wrote:
> ...
> > Remember that the only people made happy by removing features
> > generally
> > are developers...
> 
> I agree with Liam here. Introducing features that users appreciate as
> "technical debt" is only going to irritate them.
> 
> My suggestion would be to:
> 
>   1. Start with a more positive, user-centered, narrative: how the
> Nautilus developers are working to improve the experience for users.
> What they've done recently to do that, what they're planning to do.
>   2. The current draft makes the removal sound like an implementation
> failure rather than a technical design question. I think it's
> important to explain it in terms of the intrinsic nature of icons on
> the desktop - it's a very different file browsing experience.
>   3. Stress that the Nautilus developers do care about those who use
> icons on the desktop. Emphasise that alternatives have been
> considered. Argue that the people using those alternatives is a
> better
> option for them and for everyone as the code base moves forward.
> 
> Allan

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Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Elle O]

I totally agree with Allan’s suggestions. I don’t know enough about the
specific project to create a write up from scratch, but if you want any
final copy editing feel free to send it to me.

On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 1:43 AM Allan Day  wrote:

> Thanks for reaching out about this, Link. I know from experience that
> writing about contentious decisions can be tricky to get right.
>
> Liam R. E. Quin  wrote:
> ...
> > Remember that the only people made happy by removing features generally
> > are developers...
>
> I agree with Liam here. Introducing features that users appreciate as
> "technical debt" is only going to irritate them.
>
> My suggestion would be to:
>
>   1. Start with a more positive, user-centered, narrative: how the
> Nautilus developers are working to improve the experience for users.
> What they've done recently to do that, what they're planning to do.
>   2. The current draft makes the removal sound like an implementation
> failure rather than a technical design question. I think it's
> important to explain it in terms of the intrinsic nature of icons on
> the desktop - it's a very different file browsing experience.
>   3. Stress that the Nautilus developers do care about those who use
> icons on the desktop. Emphasise that alternatives have been
> considered. Argue that the people using those alternatives is a better
> option for them and for everyone as the code base moves forward.
>
> Allan
> ___
> engagement-list mailing list
> engagement-list@gnome.org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list
>
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Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Allan Day]

Thanks for reaching out about this, Link. I know from experience that
writing about contentious decisions can be tricky to get right.

Liam R. E. Quin  wrote:
...
> Remember that the only people made happy by removing features generally
> are developers...

I agree with Liam here. Introducing features that users appreciate as
"technical debt" is only going to irritate them.

My suggestion would be to:

  1. Start with a more positive, user-centered, narrative: how the
Nautilus developers are working to improve the experience for users.
What they've done recently to do that, what they're planning to do.
  2. The current draft makes the removal sound like an implementation
failure rather than a technical design question. I think it's
important to explain it in terms of the intrinsic nature of icons on
the desktop - it's a very different file browsing experience.
  3. Stress that the Nautilus developers do care about those who use
icons on the desktop. Emphasise that alternatives have been
considered. Argue that the people using those alternatives is a better
option for them and for everyone as the code base moves forward.

Allan
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Re: Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Liam R. E. Quin]

On Sat, 2018-04-21 at 10:46 -0700, Link Dupont wrote:
> 
> Here is my current draft of the section about Nautilus. Please let me
> know if we (as the GNOME engagement team) like the way this is
> messaged, of if we want to change it:

My maij suggestion would be to try & give it a mre upbeat paragraph
with a conclusion, e.g.,
"The new Nautilus (Files) is faster, easier to maintain, less buggy,
giving us a faster overall feel for the GNOME desktop"

Remember that the only people made happy by removing features generally
are developers, so it's best to recast it as a new feature that people
might actually want.

Liam (ankh)
> 
-- 
Liam Quin, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/
Staff contact for Verifiable Claims WG, SVG WG, XQuery WG
Improving Web Advertising: https://www.w3.org/community/web-adv/
Personal: awesome vintage art: http://www.fromoldbooks.org/
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Section from "What's New in Fedora 28 Workstation?" article for Fedora Magazine

[Link Dupont]

Hello Engagement team,

I am writing an article for Fedora Magazine titled "What's New in
Fedora 28 Workstation?" Among the new features, I wanted to use this as
a platform to communicate to the Fedora users about the Nautilus
desktop changes in 3.28. The Fedora Magazine is a very popular site for
Fedora users and it is an excellent conduit for distributing news about
the project.

Here is my current draft of the section about Nautilus. Please let me
know if we (as the GNOME engagement team) like the way this is
messaged, of if we want to change it:

> New features isn't always about addition; sometimes, a new feature
> means removing something. For years (since GNOME 3.0 was released),
> Files has been carrying some technical debt. In GNOME 3.28, the
> development team finally removed a long-unmaintained section of
> Files. In contrast to other commercial desktop operating systems and
> even other Linux desktop platforms, GNOME does not present icons on
> the desktop. This was a deliberate design decision, and continues to
> be the normal desktop behavior.
> 
> However, Files continued to include the option to put icons on the
> desktop, should the user choose to enable the option. Over the years,
> the development team tried to preserve and isolate the desktop icon
> code from the rest of Files. While they achieved some level of
> isolation, ultimately the changes introduced more problems than they
> intended to solve. Now the desktop icon code is actively blocking
> future development and feature enhancements. So in GNOME 3.28, this
> option (along with all the code that enabled it) has been removed. A
> lengthy technical discussion about the merits and reasoning behind
> this decision is available on the GNOME team's development website.
> 
> Many Fedora users should not be affected by this; the default
> behavior shipped in "upstream" GNOME (to not put icons on the
> desktop) is mirrored in Fedora's implementation of GNOME. Advanced
> users who have previously enabled desktop icons will find that Files
> no longer presents icons on the desktop. Those files can still be
> accessed via the Desktop folder inside Home.
> 
> For those users who do still want desktop icons, there are two
> solutions. The immediate solution is to use a different file browser,
> such as nemo. See Alternative Solution on the GNOME development
> website for instructions on how to install nemo and launch it on
> login.
> 
> The long-term solution proposed by the developers is to create a
> GNOME Shell extension that puts icons on the desktop. While a
> prototype is available, it is not ready for daily use.

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