Gnome 2.6 Usability Review 424
TuringTest writes ""The user-centric UI webzine" UserInstinct has published a usability overview of the latest version of the GNOME desktop. While their conclusions and recommendations are not mind-blowing, it includes two interesting appendices with a survey of new users (and their reactions to the system) and a list of common tasks of modern computer users with a commentary on how Gnome performs in each one. Note that usually You Only Need to Test With 5 Users (this report tests 4), you need to test additional users when an interface has several highly distinct groups of users and thus the conclusions in this review should not be taken as definitive."
Project GoneME (Score:3, Interesting)
I have started a little project which is intended to get the GNOME Desktop into a different direction. It's not aimed for people who love GNOME as it is now - No, it's more aimed to those who are experts to Unix and who like and wish so many times that some of the changes that went into GNOME never happened. The project was started yesterday and the first patches to *fix* the buttonorder (as one of many ideas and points) were created already. I plan to create the outstanding *fixes* for correcting the buttonorder in the upcoming days (as I have time) and then like to head over to other things that I personally like to have fixed. The project is not aimed to be a cooperation with the core GNOME it's more private work that I started for my own needs.
In case someone is interested then feel free to read more about it on the Project GoneME [akcaagac.com] page. Please do not expect huge wonders, it's just a test to see if people might be interested or not. As said it mainly covers my own interests at the moment. Please also don't put to much value in my brought up project description, they need to be reworked and altered anyways. I wrote the stuff as they came into my mind.
I use ion2 with gnome _and _ kde applications (Score:3, Interesting)
For those with FreeBSD who hate the mouse...
# cd
# make install
Re:Project GoneME (Score:1, Interesting)
gconf is a terrible idea. Actually most of the lets reinvent everything glib stuff is a bad idea. As if the ridiculous type casting requirements in gtk+, and the over complicated signal mechanism. Hey you can connect anything to anything - fine, but make the simple callback case work, and don't just remarshall the bloody arguments behind my back! Gosh, that feels better... cheers.
Will gnome die? (Score:3, Interesting)
Some reasons:
-Too slow
-not so well integrated
-doesn't feel a unified system(shortcuts, menus, etc)
-Again, too slow. Every release it gets slower.
The have changed enlightenment for sawfish, then for the actual wm.
The same happened for the file manager: gmc, then nautilus
And for the browser: galeon, nautilus, epiphany, now mozilla?
A very poor control center. Example: try to add virtual desktops from the control center. It's impossible, it's hidden in the desktops applets.
It's a mess, since the people funding the project dedicated to other things, Gnome seems to have lost direction.
To me, Gnome is just a desktop bar, all the enviroment and other apps doesn't feel really integrated.
Omar
Interested in knowing (Score:2, Interesting)
With gtk2's new input module support, it has made it easier to input languages which require a more complex method, but that is only limited to those gtk2 programs. So if you were using KDE, I think you would have to use input methods that talk through X, which are very unfriendly. On the other hand, it seems like windows has the advantage here of everything using the same toolkit which has pretty good internationalization support.
Tests with five users (Score:1, Interesting)
It seems to me this is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created the United States, to have several groups of people not only in cooperation but in competition with each other so new ideas would be continually generated and tried, but I'd be curious to see other's ideas if this comment is still visible.
Certification (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe start a freedesktop.org project. This way open office, KDE, Gnome, SDL, wine (hehe), and other applications will be interested in making sure that their applications are compliant. It will probably be harder, but the payoff will be a hundred times better. Not only will you get Gnome apps all interacting with each other, but you will have all the rest of the Linux/BSD/Unix apps working alone side nicely.
Another reason why this would be a good freedeskop.org project is because all of the other work that is being done there. Stuff like making sure your application uses the standard desktop icon names when referencing icons (so either Gnome or KDE icon sets work in both KDE and Gnome apps).
Having a little list of current compliment HIG applications would be a major incentive for apps to get on that list too. Maybe it would even spawn a little compitition about keeping/getting all of their apps (kde/gnome/etc) compliant.
-Benjamin Meyer
Re:Project GoneME (Score:1, Interesting)
Every time I go into gnome I'm reminded why I prefer either the KDE or a black screen tty. It's just fucked up!
Of course, this "study" is also 86ed. The "it's better because it looks and works more like windows" and "we can improve it by making it look even more like windows" crap fails to consider that most people who leave windows WANT something different.
It's not like they can't learn to do stuff differently. They have to with every version of windows anyway. Sheesh. Slow news day, I guess.
The most anoying usability-quirk in gnome.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Aaaarg!
Re:Needs one more user... (Score:3, Interesting)
When users become more accustom to computers and they are intermediate, some users will charge head on into things and get them selves into trouble. Some don't. It just depends.
But I've observed MANY people in my short career of helping neighbors and friends and such with their computers. When they are beginners, they fall into one of three categories. The first is those who hate the comptuer and fight it all the way. They learn how to do a thing or two and use that, and that's it. They won't do anything more because they could break something, etc. It's more than being hesitant.
The second group would include my little sister. They learn what they're doing and will explore a tiny bit, but by and large stick to what they know how to do and programs they know. In those programs, they may explore and they'll become very familiar and comfortable with them. But when it comes to doing something new, they are hesitant.
The third group is hesitant about everything. They are like the first group in that they never branch out into new things (group two will over time, very slowly). They just stick to what they know. That said, they don't feel like they are fighting the computer and are comfortable using the program. But they do no exploring like group two. They only learn things when they need them, and ignore them the rest of the time.
Thinking about it the only group I can think of who ISN'T hesitant is the very little kid. I'm talking 2 or 3 years old. They don't know to be scared of the computer (or even consider being scared of it). They'll plow into the computer head on and they may break it. But I wouldn't consider these kids "users"; at least in the normal sense. They may use a program or two (Putt Putt Goes to the Moon, The Busy World of Richard Scarey, whatever) but they don't use the computer, you know what I mean?
So in conclusion, there really aren't many "non-hesitant" users out there. They would be a rare bird (in my expiriance).
An interesting article though.
Improved usability (Score:1, Interesting)
1) Improve Task-Orientation
I can't help but think that GNOME usability would shoot through the roof had they put a porn icon right on the desktop [userinstinct.com].One task that consistently stumped users, causing them to go into exploration, was the initial discovery of where the web browser resided. The seemingly obvious answer eluded users for seconds.
How fast were the computers they used? (Score:2, Interesting)
Right now gnome's main usability problem is it's speed. That's the only reason I don't use it. I have a 900mhz Duron. Sure it's old but it runs wind32 and qt apps quickly-- quickly enough for most tasks. I hope gtk gets speed tweaks soon. (I've even heard people with recent CPUs saying gtk feels lethargic on their systems.)
I know the study was aimed at the layout of the desktop and such but let's face it responsiveness is a big part of a user's experience.
Re:Project GoneME (Score:3, Interesting)
Typically UNIX geeks work in highly distributed environment and need networking sound server more than anyone else.
If you were about replacing esound with NAS or rplay, there would be something to talk of.
Really we need some project like this - for real unix geeks. There are lot of more or less useful things which are written for GNOME or KDE only. I need to keep GTK and GNOME libs with all associated stuff like gconf only for few useful apps like The Gimp and planner.
I can outline some goals of the project which would make GNOME apps more integratable with traditional Unix desktop
Re:Project GoneME (Score:3, Interesting)
I would disagree. I first started developing software way back when (before DOS), and the default action was always the first in line.
when I moved to dos, any text dialog I made also had the default as the first, in a left-to-right sequence. It just seemed the normal thing to do.
Windows didn't exist then, so it couldn't have been "contaminaton" from windows.
Thanks for finding the reference. Now I can kill the BS (which is what it is) in the Gnome reference:
This is all very nice in theory, but overlooks several facts:
That's why it's so irritating.
He (the author) is making a seriously wrong assumption, that all the users are the same sex. Men and women have different methods of orienting themselves (do a google of "sex difference brain orientation spatial maze" and read the results).
A second wrong assumption is that people have to "navigate" their desktop. Most people do a lot of things on autopilot - like drive the same route to and from work. No conscious navigation required.
The title bar is the hottest area? Total bull. How many people even look at the title bar any more? It's not the hottest area visually, and it never was. I remember back in the '90s writing apps, I decided to try putting status messages, etc., in the title bar - they were completely unseen. Hell, you can put up a web page full of jokes and a title that says "If y