On Wed, 2005-07-13 at 12:07 -0700, Yang Zhao wrote: > Granted, that is only one example, and the above mentioned "friends" > consists almost entirely of hackers and geeks. However, it still > contradicts the idea that workspaces is entirely of the realm of > power-users.
I see what you are saying but I think the point is that most users would not discover that mental model on their own, which is as good as leaving it to power users. Traditionally users stick one mental model for working with their computer. So for example, some people stick to using the main menus for using an app or always clicking the toolbars for functionality. They may never realize there is functionality in context menus or using drag and drop. With that in mind I think it is safe to say that a conceptual model that goes beyond one desktop is something most users discover on their own. With that said, I would never suggest that workspaces be removed. But, I do think that pushing the user to consider grouping their applications would be a worthwhile task to gain the advantages of workspaces. In addition I think it would be easier to make something like grouping apps discoverable. Your example supports that making this kind feature available to traditional users a worthwhile task, since they can use it effectively. Eric _______________________________________________ Usability mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
