On Thursday 26 July 2001 11:00 am, Jennifer E Jobst wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> There have been some good suggestions for various icons for KDE, and
> Charles makes a good point about icons being not only culturally depend=
ant
> but also user-level dependent (i.e. what makes sense to a newbie may no=
t
> make sense to you or me).  One thing about usability is that you cannot
> make *everyone* happy, no matter how hard you try.  But there are some
> things we could do to make a larger number of people happy.  For exampl=
e,
> since some icons are culturally dependent, during install if the user
> selects a particular language, there could be a set of icons that are
> appropriate for that language.  The icons would generally be the same
> (e.g. a toolbox), but would be modified so that users of the culture
> associated with that language would recognize the icon.  This basically
> plays on Denis' idea for theming, but it's used in a cultural context. =
 It
> could also be used for different user groups, e.g. newbies vs. standard
> users vs. uber-geeks.  Newbies might get a stripped-down version of the
> desktop that only has the most commonly used functions and provides tip=
s
> by default, where as uber-geeks can  have anything and everything on th=
eir
> desktops (and wouldn't get those annoying tips).
>
> Of course, having differnt icons/desktops for different user groups ope=
ns
> a whole new can of worms (pardon the culturally dependent idiom ;) ).  =
If
> you're writing a manual and there's a picture of an icon, that picture =
may
> have to be different for every language the manual is translated to (as=
 a
> writer, I know the doc team would have a few not-so-nice things to say
> about this much work).  And if someone in France is helping someone in =
the
> US configure something and they say to "click on the XXX icon," if the
> icons are different, the US user will not know what the French user is
> talking about.
>

Continuing this idea, these regional/country specific icon sets (aka "ico=
n=20
themes") can be tied to the user's locale.  This set could be then altere=
d=20
like a toolbar; pick/change an icon that most closely represent a predefi=
ned=20
concept or action. If a application supports this type of themeing, the n=
ew=20
icon would automaticly appear on an open window much like a WM theme is=20
changed.

> (An aside here.  I know the idea of different options for different use=
r
> levels is not new, but I know it hasn't been done before.  The closest
> thing anybody's got is how Windows hides the less-frequently used optio=
ns
> in the pull-down menus. I _don't_ know why that is.  It may be for the
> reasons above.  Any ideas from anyone?)
>

I personally find the MSwindow method of hiding menu entries. I have also=
=20
found many non-technical users complete confused by it.=20
I believe that menu and/or configuration screen layering as the best way=20
"hide" functionality for those who don't know how to use it. In either ca=
se=20
entries or buttons lead to next level of complexity or depth. This lower=20
level infomation and control will be generally more detailed and cryptic =
as=20
one goes further down. The layering approaph has a side effect of hiding=20
settings that are rarely changed while allowing them to located easily wh=
en=20
needed.


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