Very good reasoning. Absolutely agree. 2012/6/17 Connor Carney <ccar...@gmail.com>
> > Now, I would really like to hear the *reasoning* against having > > default categories. Why it is preferable to let the burden to the user > > do all the job for each new applications he/she installs (and all the > > installed applications that come by default). Sure, it is impossible > > to find a good categorization that fits everyone. But we can find a > > reasonable initial one. The current one is good enough for me. > > > Display a flat list of all application launchers, excluding system > tools and file viewers. Here's my reasoning: > > The default applications list should exclude system tools (because > they aren't applications from an end-user perspective) and file > viewers (because they aren't useful when launched directly). Ubuntu, > then, comes OOTB with fourteen apps that belong in the launcher -- > aisleriot, calculator, gedit, brasero, empathy[1], firefox, > gwibber[1], libreoffice, mahjongg, rhythmbox, shotwell, simplescan, > thunderbird and transmission. > > Using the XDG categorization scheme, those applications get divided > into six categories; some categories have only one application. The > small number of items per category significantly diminishes their > usefulness, and there's no sensible way of consolidating them. > > Categories are also much harder to pick out of a list than > applications. Applications have recognizable, definitive branding. > Categories lack such branding: the spinning fox is always firefox, > while a globe could mean many things besides "Internet". For > user-installed applications, the branding is extremely prominent in > the software center, so we can expect users to recognize it. > > The dash can display 24 icons per page at it's smallest. On a 1080p > monitor it can display up to 84 items. That's plenty of room to fit > the default apps plus several more installed from the software center. > As long as a flat list of all applications fits comfortably on the > screen, a user can pick an application out of the list without needing > to interact with the computer at all [2]. > > > > [1] The presence of empathy and gwibber on this list is questionable > since they come with system branding (the "chat" and "broadcast" > features of the messaging menu) rather than application branding. > > [2] Reducing the amount of input is more important than you might > think. Every output->input cycle requires an inexperienced user to > shift his attention from the screen to the mouse and back. If the > entire list is already on the screen, choosing one is a simple task. > If he must point at a category and then choose an application, it > involves multiple subtasks. > > -- > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~unity-design > Post to : unity-design@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~unity-design > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > -- *Csonka Bálint* @913
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