Upgrading to 11.04 - Desktop

[Liam Proven]

On 2 May 2011 05:14, rikona <rikona at sonic.net> wrote:
> Hello Liam,
>
> Sunday, May 1, 2011, 9:28:52 AM, Liam wrote:
>
>>> In Firefox an image of the Menu Bar became visible when "Customise" was
>>> accessed, but that's all it was, an image with no functionality. It also
>>> disappeared again when the Customise dialogue was closed. It seems that the
>>> only way to check the version information is via Synaptic (or dpkg) and this
>>> is not as satisfactory as Help/About.
>
> LP> You did not explore for long enough or thoroughly enough!
>
> Or, perhaps, Unity is just not as intuitive as older UIs. If a UI is
> very intuitive, I wouldn't have to explore much, if at all - I could
> just start getting things done.

"Intuitive" is a very overloaded term. Computers are not intuitive,
none of them. People get familiar with things and /then/ they call
them "intuitive".

The self-hiding menus are not very /discoverable/, no. I don't like
them for that reason. But they do save screen space and they are an
easier target to hit according to Fitt's Law.

> LP> The menu bar is still there, but it has moved. It is now in the
> LP> top panel, overlaid on top of the title bar. It is hidden until
> LP> you move the mouse over the top panel or press the Alt key to
> LP> access the menus using the keyboard.
>
> One trend I don't like is to hide more and more functionality as time
> goes on. The goal seems to be a completely blank screen, with only a
> pretty picture there. Makes nice artwork, but doesn't sound very
> intuitive.

/Reductio ad absurdam/.

> My ideal UI is one that helps me find out how to do something - not
> hinder me. Blank screens don't do that. I prefer a perhaps cluttered
> screen that is intuitive and helpful instead of just pretty.

The trend today is simplification. Either deal with it, or move distros or OSs.

> As you noted, Unity was not very intuitive. The answer will likely be
> RTFM - a very poor substitute for a well done, intuitive interface.
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we going in a less productive,
> less intuitive direction? If you don't think so please tell me, with
> very specific examples showing how it is more intuitive.
>
> I'd appreciate your help in trying to understand why/how it is so
> good/intuitive/more productive.

Answered at length in another thread.

-- 
Liam Proven • Info & profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven
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