On 27 October 2010 21:35, Caio Alonso <caioal...@gmail.com> wrote: > Recently, I've noticed several usability issues in Ubuntu that really are >> big annoyances that I think are being overlooked. After watching Mark's >> keynote the other day I thought I'd pen them down to see if perhaps we can >> fix some of them this cycle. I'm never sure if the Ayatana list is for >> general usability issues, or just specifically for usability features (e.g. >> indicators) so if this is OT I apologise. >> >> The first one is the following use-case: A user wants Empathy to start on >> login. >> >> Now, right now, stop what you are doing and go and make Empathy start on >> login without Googling for help or using the terminal. >> >> Some of you will search Empathy's preferences; you guys are wrong. >> Some of you will head for Startup Applications, you won't find it in the >> list, you will click add and then stare at a horrible dialog that leaves you >> no clue what to do next. >> >> This is a common use case, not just for Empathy but also for email >> clients, or browsers. Why is it so hard? Why when I click browse on the >> dialog am I sent to a file browser rather than a list of applications? Why >> isn't Empathy in the list by default if it's installed? (BUG: >> https://bugs.launchpad.net/empathy/+bug/322314) >> >> My dream would be that we'd have a decent task scheduler so that we could >> set applications to start on login, at certain times, or when the network is >> connected. >> > > I've made a mockup of my opinion of how the dialog after you click the Add > button should look like. Two things still concern me with this interface: > how to make the user know that he either selects a program OR enters a > custom command and also the size of the dialog for low resolution systems. > > [image: Startup_Program_Page_1.png] > > One thing I noticed is that on the menu entry it is called Startup > Applications, but inside the window all the labels are "startup programs". > Is that an inconsistency? >
Thanks for the mockup! That's pretty much what I was considering. Regarding the naming, judging from the names of the items in the list, this should be "Startup Services" rather than "Startup Applications/Programs". The fact that you can add startup applications seems to be an after thought. This makes me wonder, should we be differentiating between "Applications" (e.g. programs a user would launch) and "Services" (background programs). If I was redesigning this, I'd probably totally remove the add button from that dialog, rename it "Startup Services" and come up with a better system for making applications launch on login. I'd probably add a "Task Scheduler" GUI which works with cron, and dbus to trigger applications at certain times and after certain events (e.g. login, network connected). Luke.
<<Startup_Program_Page_1.png>>
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