Project GoneME Fixes Perceived Gnome UI Errors

An anonymous reader writes "Project GoneME is the first attempt to try moving the GNOME Desktop into a new direction. The intention is to create a community of people, who are willing and interested to help fixing issues brought up by people for a very long time and make the vision of a usable Desktop in the means of good old Unix fashion become true. In case you are interested to help, please join the project. Plenty of people have shown interest and welcome this step and the IRC channel got filled up within a short time." Update: 07/26 02:33 GMT by T : A project mailing list has been set up for anyone interested in taking part in this endeavor.

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Re:Gnome Usability

[hawkeyeMI]

There has been some progress with the freedesktop initiative, allowing *ahem* 'system tray' applications to behave the same in both environments. Those sorts of things definitely help.

Re:Gnome should have 2 modes.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hitting CTRL-l (that's an L) in the file selector lets you type in the path. Just FYI.

Re:File Types

[tod_miller]

I had this problem, but assumed I was just making a mistake, and left it. Perhaps this is a difference with Windows and Linux user bases:

Anything that goes wrong with Windows, I damn and blast Bill Gates to hell and back, even if it was my fault.

Anything goes wrong with Linux, I ask myself, what did I do? Perhaps I should read the docs... then something else catches my eye and I forget about it...

I love the user testing scenarios on grok. if everyone in the Linux user world could get into heuristic testing, metric testing and collaborative testing Linux would benefit IF this information is integrated viably...

In addition, you may wish to visit useit.com and start getting usability experts really having a go at Gnome/KDE/Enlightenment/insert-yours so we can get expert advice. I saw a nice blog running a piece on how ugly the XP interface was, the argument was well presented, with screenshots, anyone have the guts to constructively criticise thier preffered Desktop (without asking, how do I take a screenshot...)

Site: useit.com

I made a typo on Enlightenment, English-enment wierd, probably a freudian slip...

Re:Gnome Usability

[polin8]

"Without the extensions it's a below par browser to Internet Explorer"

How so?

Mozilla - out of the box, xhtml, css1, most css2, mail, composer, chatzilla, popup-blocking.

In what way is it "below par"?

Re:File Types

[Vann_v2]

The latest development release of Gnome has the new MIME system, based on the one discussed at freedesktop.org. This is supposed to put a stop to the idiocy that was the previous file association brou-ha-ha.

You can read about it here [gnome.org].

Re:An attempt to clear up some misunderstandings

[cynyr]

If you want something simple, fast and clean, try out iceWM. You may have to download a new theme. Use it as a desktop, and notice that you can login in about a 1/3 of the time of gnome. I used to use gnome. What made me switch was the fact that I could not set the desktops up in a 2x2 square and have them behave that way, I could in KDE. I'm over that now and use iceWM. If they made the login time faster, and made gnome use less resources then I would move back to it(probably), until then I'll keep using iceWM. and yes i've tried KDE, gnome, XFCE, and a few others....

Re:Uhh maybe it's changed for a reason?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you are not violating anything.

Altogether now, the GPL is a copyright license. It specifies what requirements you must satisfy in order to *distribute* (read: copy) the software. It is entirely mute in the context of software *use*.

So, if you are just *using* the software, as opposed to *distributing* the software or anything in the purview of US copyright law, you really do not need to be concerned with anything related to copyright licenses. Including the GPL.

Get it?

Re:Gnome should have 2 modes.

[Slack3r78]

Share a "secret" with you?

Right click on a folder, and select "Browse Folder." All of the sudden you have a tree view. The best of both worlds are available without changing a single setting. :-)

Re:Gnome should have 2 modes.

[gehrehmee]

You mean like the "File: Open Location" Menu option, with it's clear label "Ctrl+L" shortcut displayed prominantly next to it?

One word: direct feedback...

[msimm]

KDE is close with www.kde-look.org [kde-look.org] but I'd really like to see a DE pull it all together and create a dynamic user/developer environment.

Comments.
Ratings (good for both artist/developers *and* users)
Pictures! (eyecandish interface and background picutres! you want to attract artists and excite users!)
Oh, and no patronizing, but it sound like you got that part already!

Re:Gnome Usability

[shaitand]

Unfortunately freedesktop.org is one of the things GoneME guys would like to see go away.

He doesn't want to replace it mind, say with something better. He simply wants to abolish it and the HIG while we're at it!

Re:My (uncommon) complaint about Gnome...

[AlXtreme]

Personally, I like the split of GLib and GTK, but this is more from a coders point of view. For console, library or server stuff, GLib is a small useful (ubiquitous?) library that can be used without the GUI bloat of GTK. ATK and Pango have only since the 2.x versions of GTK+ been included and were external projects before, so some programs still use Pango while not using GTK+. The GNOME libraries themselves are a total mess, I'll give you that though.

Having the GTK libraries separate from eachother makes sense and broadens their usefulness. If it makes it slightly harder to build from scratch, too bad ;)

Re:Psst...

[mrchaotica]

Stop spreading FUD! The 12" iBook (which is what I have) is $1099 brand new; less if you get the previous model (the 800MHz one) which is still available in retail stores.

As for desktops, an eMac is $799 new.

Sure, a top-of-the-line G5 costs $3000, but so does a top-of-the-line PC!

Re:Psst...

[mrchaotica]

Well, which is more important, Free software or good usability?

Also, note that big chunks of OSX are Free, and that Free applications work with it too. For example, on my Mac I use BitTorrent, Blender, Desktop Manager, Fire, Firefox, Frozen Bubble, Gimp, Handbrake, LyX, Mplayer, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, VLC, and of course all the stuff installed via Fink, including Emacs, Ethereal, Fortune, Inkscape, Lynx, qtplay, xfig, and xplanet.

And, most importantly, it was a heck of a lot easier than figuring out how to get all that working in Windows!