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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Configure Desktop Background
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-06-06 17:26:01
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On June 6, 2002 11:00 am, Simon Edwards wrote:
> 1) Because people will *not* realise that those two controls are actually
> the same thing.

please back this up with proof; my intuition says the exact opposite. 

as it stands this is an empty assertion, something that this list is getting 
frustratingly full of recently. (this isn't your fault, we need users to test 
on)

> 2) It's not normal.

nothing is normal, everything is contrived. and, as you shall see in the rest 
of my email, duplicated controls is a very normal thing in the real world.

> If if they do notice that a control is in two places
> they will be very confused, and assume that they must be separate things
> somehow. Otherwise why would there be two of them?

because it belongs in more than one category. similar to how the same page 
might be indexed under two different headings in a book's index...

> 3) People conceptulise (sp?) areas of software as being 'spaces' or
> 'places'; things which are navigated through like space in the real world.
> Having the same thing be in two different places at the same deeply
> violates one of the basic pricipals of space. "A thing in space only has
> one location." You don't see that happening in the real world do you? Is
> you chair ever in two places at the same time?

don't confuse "control" for "object".

light switches for the same light source are found in multiple places in my 
house. the window controls in my car are in two places, as are the lock 
controls (one on the driver's panel, one one each of the doors). there are 
cords for pulling my drapes on each side of the drapes. it makes lots of 
sense to duplicate controls for ergonomy.

> 4) It needlessly clutters the control center and makes it appear big than
> what it really is. Although the number of unique settings may be the same,
> if you are looking for something you still have to look amongest *all* of
> the controls in the center.

in normal mode of usage, the user doesn't graze through every single control 
panel. they don't see all the options at once. in fact, if the options are in 
the right place(s) they will only see one or two kcms at a config session ..

> Aaron, can provide a quick list of which settings are duplicated? I don't
> actually know, and I thought that I knew the control center quite well...

no, because i honestly have better things to do with my time.

> > what value would the low and high ends equate to?
>
> Who cares? just pick some numbers.

this is a ludricous statement; why not just set it to something random at 
start up then? please, if you have nothing useful to offer, don't.

> I've yet to meet someone who actually
> *knew* what real effect this setting had on anything. Which is why this
> setting is so useless... No one knows what it's consequences are...

well, i know what the numbers mean, as do many other power users. which is why 
it needs to remain a power user's setting. it is useful in low memory 
situations.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" 
    - Albert Einstein
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