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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Remove Home icon from Desktop (was Mini usability study)
From:       James Richard Tyrer <tyrerj () acm ! org>
Date:       2004-09-30 3:50:50
Message-ID: 415B829A.2060304 () acm ! org
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Uno Engborg wrote:
> James Richard Tyrer wrote:

> I also doubt very much that a patent on "My Documents" would be valid.  
> So I really doesn't see any reason not to call it just that.
> That would have the advantage that users switching from that other 
> commonly used desktop environment would feel rigth at home,
> and it would be understandable to others as well. This is about 
> usability and we should really not let our feelings toward Microsoft
> influence our choise, unless we fear Microsoft would sue us. But as 
> Microsoft have no trademark on My or Documents and that the
> name is evident to anybody in the trade, I don't think we need to fear a 
> lawsuit in this case.

Remember the Lindows case.  Microsoft retains the trademark: Windows although 
the judge said that it was a generic term.

> The only real advantage I find in calling it Documents instead of "My 
> Documents" or "Username's Documents" would be that it is
> a single word (at least in english) that would be easier to handle from 
> the command line.
> 
>>
>>> This directoury should be the standard storage area for files that 
>>> the user creates knowingly by "save" and "save as" actions.
>>
Yes that is the main change that is needed.  The "Documents" directory needs to 
be the default for all applications.

>>> 4) A user that opens the home directory from the icon on the desktop 
>>> would expect to be able to press the up arrow, and end up on the 
>>> desktop. As we all know he doesn't.  A "My Documents" folder should 
>>> actualy recide in /home/unsername/Desktop

I guess that it depends on your analogy.  I don't think that I keep my documents 
in my Desktop.

>> I suppose that that would be OK, but I rather like having the DeskTop 
>> in the USR-HOME directory.  However, opening the DeskTop directory in 
>> KFM is not very useful.
> 
> It would make the meaning of the Up arrow in konqueror inconsistent. As 
> Up will not mean up in the filesystem. Going to a sibling directory 
> would be just as bad going to a child when pressing the Up arrow.

I don't see it as an issue with the Up arrow.  I see it as a hierarchy:

	House   ($HOME)
	Office  (Documents)
	Desk    (DeskTop)

In that case you go Up from the DeskTop to get to Documents.

But as I said, you don't normally want to open your DeskTop directory in 
Konqueror if you have a lot of stuff on/in it, which is perhaps a more valid 
reason to have it that way.

--
JRT
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