The idea of user-levels is very populair and scores points in reviews but I 
don't think it actually works. 

*) It requires the user to rate him/herself. But on which grounds? Note also 
that women tend to have a lower self-esteem as men which is likely to lead to 
interesting effects but not to a good UI.

*) It assumes that "user-level" maps to a certain need for features. I doubt 
that that is true, maybe you need to turn some obscure feature on (passive 
mode FTP anyone?) because of the network situation you are in. So what does 
your network situation have to do with your skill level?

*) It assumes that "user-level" is equal for all tasks. Well, it isn't. I may 
be first class sysadmin (I am not) but that doesn't mean I care for the 
expire date of my cookies. Yet, I might want to fine tune my network settings 
for optimal performance.

*) It makes it more difficult to learn. By exposing a user to available 
options, a user will be made aware of these options and will be better able 
to use these options when he or she needs them. By hiding options the user 
will not find out about options and will not be able to tell whether a 
certain functionality exists. A recent test by C't (computer experts) gave 
KMail bad marks for the lack of import filters, kmail has a very nice tool 
for importing other mailboxes, but appearantly C't didn't notice it. It makes 
no sense to have functions if the user doesn't know about them. So with a 
Beginner/Default/Advanced UI either a user chooses beginner and misses 
functionality that may be important for him/her, or the user chooses advanced 
in order not to miss anything, and is in the situation that we tried to 
prevent with this scheme in the first place. Conclusion: "user-levels" don't 
work.

What does work?

A simple GUI that can be expanded by the user when the need arises. "Options 
>>" and "Details >>" buttons can be used for that. "Advanced" tabs in control 
modules can be used for that. Toolbars that can be easily edited (e.g. with 
drag and drop) so that the user can add the functions that he/she uses most 
often.

Minicli and the cookie dialog are successfull examples of dialogs that can be 
adjusted to the needs of the user. Those needs have nothing to do with some 
fictious "user-level".

Cheers,
Waldo
-- 
bastian@kde.org | SuSE Labs KDE Developer | bastian@suse.com