Usability
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 11:55 pm
It took me a while, but I'm starting to catch up with the interviews from LWE, and a few others that I missed. I really should read up on the usability studies that both KDE and Gnome are doing. I have a preference for KDE myself, simply because I like to customize everything to my liking.
But I do think Gnome would probably be easier to use for the user who just walks straight up to a computer to use it. Operating systems are definitely application-centric, as opposed to task-centric, at the moment, and to me Gnome does this as well as anyone in my opinion. Looking at the desktops of every other OS, things don't seem to be well labeled.
Windows has a Start button, but what in the Hell does Start mean? (Yes, I know, you Start the adware and spyware infestation) Everyone's familiar with it, but it has no clear meaning in itself.
OS X isn't much better. You have the dock for applications, but aside from the mail icon, it's not easy to tell what each icon means, or what it does, unless you leave the mouse there for a while, and perhaps the text gives you a clue. When we got the new macs at work, not a single person was able to figure out which icon represented the Internet browser. Safari is a horribly vague name for an Internet browser.
KDE doesn't really seem that clear, either. You have a K button instead of a start button. People familiar with windows have no problems with that, but a user unfamiliar with windows might not fair so well. Even I forget what some of the programs do in the KDE menu, with all the cryptic names. I keep hearing such good things about Suse, though, so maybe they've cleaned up some of those things.
I actually like Gnome's labeling of the menus. It's at the top left, where us Westerners look first due to our left-to-right reading. It's labeled as Applications, and everything in the menu describes what the program is instead of giving it a cryptic name. Places is a pretty good "real world" analogy for file structure, I suppose. Given that words like hierarchy and directory don't seem to do it for people, I can't come up with anything better. And the System menu is also relatively well named.
During the Kevin Carmony interview, someone mentioned a flash tutorial when you first turn on the computer. Every desktop environment could benefit from something like that for new users. It's funny that I talk up Gnome, since I don't actually use it at the moment, but I'm starting to like the things they're doing. KDE4 might seal the deal for me as a KDE user, but Gnome just keeps looking better. Either way, it's nice to have choices. Who knows, I might go back to XFCE or fluxbox. Thank God for linux, though. After using it for so long, I can't imagine going back to Windows or OS X where I lose all the great options linux has to offer.
But I do think Gnome would probably be easier to use for the user who just walks straight up to a computer to use it. Operating systems are definitely application-centric, as opposed to task-centric, at the moment, and to me Gnome does this as well as anyone in my opinion. Looking at the desktops of every other OS, things don't seem to be well labeled.
Windows has a Start button, but what in the Hell does Start mean? (Yes, I know, you Start the adware and spyware infestation) Everyone's familiar with it, but it has no clear meaning in itself.
OS X isn't much better. You have the dock for applications, but aside from the mail icon, it's not easy to tell what each icon means, or what it does, unless you leave the mouse there for a while, and perhaps the text gives you a clue. When we got the new macs at work, not a single person was able to figure out which icon represented the Internet browser. Safari is a horribly vague name for an Internet browser.
KDE doesn't really seem that clear, either. You have a K button instead of a start button. People familiar with windows have no problems with that, but a user unfamiliar with windows might not fair so well. Even I forget what some of the programs do in the KDE menu, with all the cryptic names. I keep hearing such good things about Suse, though, so maybe they've cleaned up some of those things.
I actually like Gnome's labeling of the menus. It's at the top left, where us Westerners look first due to our left-to-right reading. It's labeled as Applications, and everything in the menu describes what the program is instead of giving it a cryptic name. Places is a pretty good "real world" analogy for file structure, I suppose. Given that words like hierarchy and directory don't seem to do it for people, I can't come up with anything better. And the System menu is also relatively well named.
During the Kevin Carmony interview, someone mentioned a flash tutorial when you first turn on the computer. Every desktop environment could benefit from something like that for new users. It's funny that I talk up Gnome, since I don't actually use it at the moment, but I'm starting to like the things they're doing. KDE4 might seal the deal for me as a KDE user, but Gnome just keeps looking better. Either way, it's nice to have choices. Who knows, I might go back to XFCE or fluxbox. Thank God for linux, though. After using it for so long, I can't imagine going back to Windows or OS X where I lose all the great options linux has to offer.
