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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: feedback from the gnome usability study.
From:       Ian H <arcaneone () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2001-07-28 11:45:52
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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 dependant
> but also user-level dependent (i.e. what makes sense to a newbie may not
> 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 example,
> 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 tips
> by default, where as uber-geeks can  have anything and everything on their
> desktops (and wouldn't get those annoying tips).
>
> Of course, having differnt icons/desktops for different user groups opens
> 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 "icon 
themes") can be tied to the user's locale.  This set could be then altered 
like a toolbar; pick/change an icon that most closely represent a predefined 
concept or action. If a application supports this type of themeing, the new 
icon would automaticly appear on an open window much like a WM theme is 
changed.

> (An aside here.  I know the idea of different options for different user
> 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 options
> 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 
found many non-technical users complete confused by it. 
I believe that menu and/or configuration screen layering as the best way 
"hide" functionality for those who don't know how to use it. In either case 
entries or buttons lead to next level of complexity or depth. This lower 
level infomation and control will be generally more detailed and cryptic as 
one goes further down. The layering approaph has a side effect of hiding 
settings that are rarely changed while allowing them to located easily when 
needed.


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