On 9/23/05, = fourhead <fourhead@geekspot.= de> wrote:

First, let me say hello to every= body, I'm new here, I have many ideas, and
since it's my job to set up c= omputers for absolutely non-technical people, I
think I can tell a lot of the problems people have that are new to
c= omputers :-)

Today I found a very interesting mockup of how KDE 4 co= uld look:

http://kde-artists.org/main/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,48/expv,0/topic= ,417.0

I think this mockup has some very interesting ideas that = should be considered.
It basically shows a document- or task-oriented de= sign, instead of a
application-oriented design. In the top left, you have a few menus that= give
you direct access to most common functions. "Create" let= s you create text
documents, presentations, burn CDs etc. "Communic= ate" gives you quick access
to all your friends and to the internet. "Configure" gives yo= u quick access
to the most common sysem config options.

The idea = is kind of radical, but I think it's worth it. Non-technical people
that sit in front of a computer don't want to work with programs, they want=
to get their work done. They don't want to use KOffice, they want to cr= eate
an text document. They don't want to open K3b (what does that mean
actually?), they want to burn a CD.

An interface similar to this= mockup would give you the ability to concentrate
of what you actually w= ant to do. If you want to write an email to a friend,
you don't have to = care about your mail program, remember your friend's mail
address etc., you just click "Communicate->Contacts->Mary-&g= t;Send mail". Thats
quick and intuitive.

I came up with a fe= w more ideas that I've also posted in the threaded linked
above. I would= get rid of the "Configure" button and instead add a button
"Computer" and a button "Media". The computer butto= ns has these entries
(propably a few more):

- Browse files
- L= og off
- Shutdown
- Hibernate
- Configure
- Lock screen

Well, I think you get the point. A menu "Media" could contain= entries like:

- Watch a movie
- View photos
- Listen to music=
- Listen to webradio

... and stuff like that. Now, what do these= link actually do (in the Media
menu)? Well, I was thinking about a file browser to be something like a= n
"universal file open dialog". Look at the file browser in th= e mockup: It
combines concepts of Konqueror and desktop search apps like= Beagle. Now when
you click "Media->Watch a movie" this file browser could p= op up, being
auto-configured to show you only video files, and your DVD = drive if a DVD is
inserted. I mean, thas what you want, you want to watc= h a movie, so the
computer presents you a list of all movies on your computer. Of course = this
list should be well organized, like showing recently used movies fi= rst,
ordering by some criteria etc.

Today, if I want to watch a m= ovie, I have to either open Konqueror, browse
trough all my directories until I'm in my video directory, find the one= I
want to look at and click it. Or I open a video application, click &q= uot;Open
file" and do the same searching. I think the approach show= n in this mockup
would be much more intuitive and useful.

So, this top-left menu = should be only for the most common tasks. The
"Contacts" menu = for example could show you only the 20 most frequently used
contacts, th= e "Read mail" menu could just display new messages etc. If you
want to see ALL yourcontacts, you can click on "Contact book"= and you'll see
them, reorganize them etc. But the most common tasks - a= ctually contacting
your contact, or perhaps update his telephone number,= you can do right on the
desktop.

Now about this file browser. Well, actually, it's about= apps in general. I
think most KDE apps today are just too bloated, too = cluttered and too
overwhelming when you look at them. Honestly, it's som= etimes not fun to look
at them, and with each KDE workstation I set up I first spend a few hou= rs
removing all this unecessary stuff that 90% of all users will never u= se. A
default installation of Showimg for example has 26!!! toolbar butt= ons! I
immideately removed it, this was just too much to look at. I tried to j= ust
quickly look at a photo fullscreen, and you first have to go trough = this
mile-long toolbar to find the "fullscreen" button. It's s= omewhere in the
middle, it's the 18th button actually. Am I the only one using the full= screen
button so often? Should't this be on the very left, large and bri= ght, easy to
recognize and easy to find?

Well, I hope I don't sou= nd like ranting, but I love KDE and I want it to be
the easiest, cleanest, smoothest, straight-forwardest and user-friendli= est
desktop on the world, and think KDE needs some work to ac= hieve this.

I'm looking forward to your comments!

Tom
=

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