On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 4:50:56 pm Ben Cooksley wrote:
> Currently in System Settings the categories structure is not very easy
> to use, and makes finding settings harder than it should be. In order
> to correct this, a complete re-structure of the modules is required,
> removing the General / Advanced sorting and giving modules clear
> names.
>
> Dario Andres ( from bugsquad ) and myself have been working on this
> and have developed the following plan at this time for the modules
> [1]. Please see the following mockup to see how this would look [2].
> This is aimed at KDE 4.4 at this point, and we hope to commit it next
> week assuming no changes need to be made. We would appreciate
> everyone's comments on this.
>
I am a KDE Games developer, but I am approaching this from an
end-user point of view (I think) and certainly from the POV of a few
decades of experience as a designer of user-friendly applications
in an end-user environment.

If I had had something like Ben's categorization seven years ago,
I am sure I could have saved a lot of time and frustration over the
years and had a much more enjoyable KDE experience, besides
getting access to more of the KDE smarts which, sad to say, tend to
pass me by.

I really like the http://imagebin.ca/view/Y3KUza.html layout and
categorization, except for words like PIM and Plasma (which others
have already pointed out) and even "Gestures".  What is a gesture in
this context?

At any rate, it's all a huge advance on things like the "Peripherals"
category of KDE 3.5.  Last time I saw a "peripheral" it was a huge 
tape-drive in a corner of a large room, not a mouse or keyboard.

I get into difficulties, however, in
http://techbase.kde.org/User:DarioAndres/SS3 at the next level down,
starting at "Splash Screen" and "Plasma Theme".  What are they?
A part of a car and a rendition of "The Stars and Stripes Forever"? :-)
And "Akonadi", was she that Ancient Greek heroine who was chained
to a rock? :-)  Even "Gamma" ... I'm aware of it and have played with it
a bit over the years, but have never been clear on exactly what it does
and how to get best results from it.

So, please can we make a rule?  No KDE-speak, UNIX jargon, Linux
jargon, etc. in user-interfaces, unless the target user-base consists of
KDE core developers.

To put it positively, any interface should use the language of the
targeted end-user, including *his/her* jargon if applicable (e.g. "Ledgers"
is an accounting term and is OK in KMyMoney).  And when in doubt
about a term, ask your husband, wife, friend, accountant, etc. what
they think the words mean.

All the best, Ian W.