[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: "UP" Browsing Button
From:       Dave Leigh <dave.leigh () cratchit ! org>
Date:       2002-10-06 13:17:37
[Download RAW message or body]

On Saturday 05 October 2002 23:57, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sun,  6 Oct 2002 13:49, Dave Leigh wrote:
> > On Saturday 05 October 2002 15:36, Henry Stanaland wrote:
> > > Recently I had a friend(who I've had with Mandrake for a while) who
> > > normally uses Netscape.  I tried to get her to use Konqueror and
> > > the very first thing she said was "Why is there an up button...I've
> > > never seen an up button?"
> >
> > The obvious answer is, "Of COURSE you have! There's one in Explorer,
> > but you only see it when you're looking at your local directories.
> > Konqueror is more consistent about things. The up button takes you up
> > a directory, just like in Explorer."
>
> "I don't want to go up a directory, I'm on the Internet!"

Answer: "Really? I often do. Sometimes in email I'll get a link to a news 
article or some interesting page. I'm curious to see what else is on that 
website, so I just click the UP button. In lesser browsers you have to 
carefully hack the end off of the URL. Konqueror is easier."

> The link between webpages and directories is not an obvious one, and
> "average users" probably won't get it. Many people don't read URLs at
> all, let alone read them as a directory structure.

I think you're underestimating the average user. The link _IS_ obvious, 
especially in Unix with its ubiquitous use of forward slashes... 
"<technicalstuff>://dir/dir/dir/doc" It's no different on the internet than 
on your local machine. The problem with most Windows users is that the 
"obvious" has been hidden from them.

> And then you have the issue that there are many places on the web where
> going up a level gives you an error --
> somedomain.com/somedirectory/somefile.html exists, but
> somedomain.com/somedirectory is a virtual directory that doesn't allow
> listings.
>
> I'm not saying that the up button should be removed, but you can't
> blame people for not understanding what it does.

I'm certainly not going to blame them for it. I simply think that educating 
them is far simpler than Henry made it sound. There's nothing there that 
doesn't directly relate to something on your Unix desktop. For example, The 
errors you describe above are simply explained in terms of permissions. Just 
as in Unix you can't see certain directories, you should be expected to see 
just "any ol' thing" on the net. Still consistent.

> [snip]
>
> > I think it's a mistake to take it out of the browser profile. You're
> > removing very useful functionality at the cost of consistency.
>
> Agreed.
>
> > Personally, I use the up button quite a lot. It's an improvement over
> > MSIE I think, because it's far more consistent. New MSIE users have
> > to discover that certain functions appear or disappear when they're
> > simply looking at different locations; whereas new Konqueror users
> > can take it for granted that the controls work the same whether
> > you're looking at a local directory or a website.
> >
> > I'm not even convinced that it has "THE" best place on the toolbar. I
> > also like Opera quite a bit, and it puts those buttons closer to the
> > center of the toobar, which makes for a lot less mouse travel when
> > the sidebar is open.
>
> Agreed.
>
> I don't think its too bad where it is. I don't think its a real issue.

Agreed.

-- 
Dave Leigh, Consulting Systems Analyst
Cratchit.org
  http://www.cratchit.org
  864-427-7008 (direct)
  AIM or Yahoo!: leighdf
  MSN: leighdf29379@hotmail.com
  ICQ: 37839381

Hiroshima '45, Tschernobyl '86, Windows '98

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]