Linux Project (RE: Linux vs. Windows and why win is winning!)

[Brian Densmore]

> From: Jim Herrmann [mailto:b3d at kc.rr.com]
> 
> Here is a usability report that Sun did on Gnome.
> 
> http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/ut1_report/report_main.html
> 
> I think that much of what is pointed out in this report could 
> apply to KDE as
> well.  Perhaps KDE already has addressed some of these 
> issues.  BTW, is this
> project being atalked about a KDE or a Gnome project?
> 

Some very good issues in this latest round of discussion on the project! The
gnome usability article was very good and raised some of the issues we have
been discussing. It seems the users like the look and feel but the menus and
applications are confusing. Menus really need to be simple. Few options
displayed, clear text of what they are, and easy ways to "add" to the menus
and desktop. If you star out with a bare bones menu, and make it easy to add
to it, then users can customize it to be as complex as they like. If a user
wants 4000 items in their menu, let them do with a few clicks of the mouse,
but let's not to default to everything and the kitchen sink. What we need is
some happy medium that makes it easy for newbies to use, but allows advanced
users to have what they want, and a way for the interface to "grow" with the
users. As to whether to go with KDE or Gnome, I would opt to try to build a
universal approach that could be applied to either. 

Brian