2009/8/22 Máirín Duffy <mairin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > On Sat, 2009-08-22 at 02:01 -0400, Ben Boeckel wrote: >> *sigh* Using KMail now with mail delivery on and now I forget to check the receiver. >> > okay ill resend my reply > > Thanks for giving it a try. Here are the problems I see with the mockup: Ok I think I see where the 'fundamental breakdown' is coming in on the mockups. The KDE 'spirit' has always seemed to be about letting people know everything possible, and letting a person make their own decisions. In fact if one thing that gets more flame wars is anyone 'dumbing' down an interface by hiding choice. It goes with the assumption that man is innately curious and will want to play with and know he can play with anything. This shows up in the mockups with people giving tons of choices and letting innate curiosity fill in questions. The other view is that people have shutdown their natural curiousity with the 'caution of adulthood'. They become confused and distracted and are psychologically unable to make 'good' decisions on things they know little about. So by limiting down choice you are able to get more acceptance from people so that they feel comfortable using the 'unknown' item. The issue I think between the two is what population is larger of the two. From the studies I have seen, it seems that the second population (easily confused/intimidated/scared/cautious/whatever you wish to put here) is the larger part of the population. I am not talking about complete new people here. People who have used computers all their lives will still show up as just wanting the cautious 1 click method because they have too many other concerns on their minds. [I have long rants from former co-workers who find the Gnome desktop too complicated which after questioning them find out that it didn't allow them to get their job done in 1-2 clicks...] The design challenge is that these people are not the only population around. People who are 'adventurous', wanting to feel more in control by seeing all the choices possible; the ones who throw out firefox after they find that most of the things they could have played with are hidden behind about:configs; they get turned off by being what they see as being herded. So the issue is getting them off of the easy pages as quickly as possible to the 'Expert' pages. I would say that for some of them what you want is not just send them to the Spins/Technology Preview pages but send them to the Spin Maker as quickly as possible. The challenge for the adventurous 'all-choice' population is to realize that they aren't the lion share of people. -- Stephen J Smoogen. Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for? -- Robert Browning _______________________________________________ fedora-advisory-board mailing list fedora-advisory-board@xxxxxxxxxx http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-advisory-board
