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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: list of usability-related aKademy discussion
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () kde ! org>
Date:       2004-07-29 0:41:35
Message-ID: 200407281841.36437.aseigo () kde ! org
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On Wednesday 28 July 2004 04:18, Segedunum wrote:
> Try and field some questions (hopefully some sceptical ones) about working
> on usability in KDE. Are people afraid of usability? Why? Try to see how
> receptive fellow developers would really be on taking *constructive*
> criticism on usability issues.

in return, those of us on this list need to be ready for some constructive 
criticisms of how things proceed here. this isn't a perfect process yet 
(ever? =) and i know that the imperfections / quirks / methodologies have 
turned off several developers from engaging more openly with usability. this 
isn't a permenant situation, but the solution lies on both sides. so in 
addition to bringing greater focus on usability @ aKademy, hopefully i can 
bring some of the attendees perspectives back here when i return ...

> of the Korporate Desktop stuff. Try and emphasise how KDE will be different
> and inclusive on these issues, and that we're not starting an initiative to
> take a chainsaw to KDE. Currently, I can't see anything I'd chop
> functionally from KDE.

i think we've managed to communicate this one pretty well by this point, 
actually. it USED to be a query of concern, but no longer even comes up in 
discussion =)

> Yes, I know that's flowery, airy, fairy language, but I really think the
> human touch in talking with fellow developers about usability will be very
> important, otherwise it won't matter two straws what happens technically.

as an FYI, i'll be talking to some professional usability ppl @ aKademy as 
well. so it won't all be developers, it will also be building bridges between 
traditional usability groups and open source ....

> It would be nice to see more core developers on this list exchanging some
> good technical ideas, and working them through on the usability front.

that's a focus for me, yes.

> This has been done to death over a period of years, and we've seen a lot of
<snip>
> control panel. I *really* do not think KControl should lose the good things
> it already has.

i agree with much of this =)

> There should be *no* search function to search the control centre itself -
> if you need to search a control centre you've failed.

this unfortunately ignores the reality that our desktops are amazingly 
intricate and that not all people think of things in the same way. put those 
two things together and a search can make things much easier to find.

> There's also the 
> sizeable usability connotations of presenting the results of that search,
> *and* keeping the control centre structure sane and infront of the user.

i don't think that's too difficult. a google-like search results return would 
fit nicely into the right hand side IMO.

> 2. Konqueror
> What is required is a customisable Konqueror, that can change its icons,
> toolbars, menus and configuration menus based on defined views and
> protocols. If you change protocol mid-stream, the look and feel will
> change. Many of the common views should ship with KDE by default, and allow
> people to create customised views for themselves. We would have file
> browsing, web browsing, FTP browsing, network browsing... Not too many,
> just enough to get the really common tasks that people do done and allow
> people to build infinitely on top of them.

the usability side of this being how to present them, which ones to offer, 
keeping things semi-sane (e.g. the interface can't change TOO much between 
protocol switches ,but i don't see that as too big a problem), etc...

> That is a huge task technically,

well, not really. each konq view knows what it is viewing URL-wise, and 
getting the protocol from that url is pretty simple.

> For file browsing the layout of Konqueror also needs to be revised.
> Everybody I know, right up to advanced users, copies stuff to and from
> their home folder to and from devices like CDs, floppies and the network.
> You can't effectively do this with these functions spread over many buttons
> on the sidebar. On the other hand, the sidebar is good if it can be made a
> bit more intuitive as it can logically be split into functions users
> perform.

sidebar ... yes, i'll bring this up as a general topic...

> 3. Kicker
>
> Not sure about this, as at the moment I don't really see any technical
> problems with it Kicker. A lot of the major improvents are probably fairly
> simple. What changes have you made on the functional front?

a lot of the subdialogs suck(ed). smooth zooming icons. allowing one to get 
rid of the main panel so you can have a windowmakerlike set up with just a 
dock and kasbar, for instance. ripping out the hard-coded main panel so there 
is just the "child panel" (which just becomes "desktop panel") which reduces 
code dupe, memory overhead and various annoying technical problems.

the system tray also needs to be worked out.

> > b) new default kicker layout for KDE4?
>
> I think so, hopefully having identified the common tasks that people
> actually do - i.e. not just the developers. I believe some people call them
> use cases :).

=)

> > b) something like karamba ought to be IN kdesktop if there at all
>
> I certainly think so. A good notification and information infrastructure is
> never a bad idea from a usability point of view. Unfortunately, stuff like
> Karamba is the subject of a lot of crap at the moment, so we'll have to
> have a think about what people would actually use it for.

yes, that is the key. not another bobble that's cute but useless (MacOS X has 
SOOOOO much of that drek it's sad), but something USEful and efficient.

> Hopefully, that may have been of some help. I can imagine that talking
> about usability issues infront of a bunch of KDE hackers will be daunting,

nah... we're all good friends; i've known most of them through the internet 
for several years now. that and i'm able to hold my own in social and meeting 
environments =)

> but providing you link it with the success of KDE and what it is physically
> being used for in the world today, I think most people will be pretty
> receptive.

i agree

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