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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Improved document handling (Was: Goal-orientation (filesvsdocuments))
From:       Rik Hemsley <rik () kde ! org>
Date:       2000-03-06 18:22:01
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#if Marko Samastur
> > And changing "save" to "discard" is not a sufficient addition to value to
> > justify the disjunction in learned behaviour.
[...]
> The proposal is to change computer interface so he doesn't need to ask
> since this is what he wants most of the time anyway. Those much rarer
> occasions, when he doesn't want to save what he has changed, he can
> always use Discard option (aka throw it in the wastebasket).

Exactly.

> The benefits are at least: 
> - more intuitive since it works like in real life
> - less abusive since it generally avoids asking user what he wants to do
> anyway
> 
> There's no doubt that this change would create some cognitive burden on
> existing users of computers in a short run but as I've said, if it's a
> good change, than this change shouldn't be hard or long lasting. 

Yep. I can't see that it would take people long to stop trying to
press 'Save'.

> On the other hand, if we are too afraid to put some burden on users,
> than user interface design is pretty much fixed for the future. Since
> most people are not satisfied with how things are now (and I think we
> agree that rightfully so), this is not acceptible.

Right. While this list is not just supposed to be idealistic, we can't
just dismiss everything because it doesn't sit well with current
expectations. Otherwise, we'll never innovate at all. If you look
at this proposed feature hard enough, you see that it makes very little
difference to user if they don't want to take advantage of the more
advanced part - they simply don't press 'Save'.

The real user I asked about this said he'd want a 'make a fresh copy
without revision history from the current revision'. IMO this will
be necessary to 1) make a small file for transmission and 2) hide
revision history when you don't want people to see it.

So this will have to be implemented, and it could simply go where
'Save As' was before.

> I certainly don't propose to make this change in the release of KDE 2.0.
> But I see no harm if early alpha or beta of next KDE release would have
> it for testing purposes. Practically everything we would need to develop
> for that we should develop anyway (better undo...).

Hehe, glad you don't want it in KDE 2. I don't code that fast :)

> Btw, I'm quite certain Rik's remark was aiming at your statement about
> legacy of MS and MAc applications. I understood that statement pretty
> much the same, don't change because others have it like that.

Yep, I was (somewhat bluntly) pointing out that innovation doesn't happen
if you disallow anything that breaks the models perpetrated by other systems.

Rik

-- 
Edit the images you inhabit.

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