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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: feedback from the gnome usability study.
From:       ian <arcaneone () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2001-07-25 17:12:07
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On Thursday 26 July 2001 12:09 am, Sheldon Lee Wen wrote:
> > I think we should do a study before trying to change Konqueror's icon.
>
> I'm not talking about konqueror's icon, I'm talking about the K icon for
> the main launcher menu, KDE's equivalent of the windows start button.
> The specific problem with the foot on the gnome menu was that people could
> not readily determine it's meaning from the picture. How is the K any
> different, if people do not have any pre-existing contextual, or other,
> information with regards to it?
>

How about  the "K" as a launch tower and the word "APP(LICATION)" as a rocket.


> > >4) We have the same problem with the KDE Home directory icon as the
> > > gnomes do w/ the nautilus home icon.
> >
> > But they're two very different icons. Nautilus is just a house with
> > "SOME-NAME's Home" as its title, which sounds a lot like people's
> > websites named in exactly the same way. The Home in KDE says just 'Home'
> > and it's not just an icon of a house. It's a large folder with a house
> > beside it, implying something having to do with files/folders. Perhaps
> > "Home Directory" might be more specific, though.
>
> The core of the problem there was that the people being tested were not
> familiar with the concept of networked machines and "home directories"
> thus, the house icon did not imply a location for their files to them. For
> us, it's a no brainer, but for someone who doesn't know what a home
> directory is, there is no context to work from.  I agree that the picture
> of the file on the icon is much better, but it's the home part of it that
> may throw some people off. Would a picture of a hard-drive be better or
> more intuitive?
>
I think a hard drive would be more ambiguous. It has to be something that 
conveys the idea that the files are in a particular section such as a shelf 
or folder in a filing cabinet. Some examples: "Home Folder", "Personal 
Files/Folder", "<user's> Files"

Ian


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