Re: [Ayatana] Flies in the Ice Cream...

[Scott Ritchie <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/27/2010 04:55 PM, Luke Benstead wrote:
> 
> 
> On 27 October 2010 21:35, Caio Alonso <caioalons@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:caioalons@xxxxxxxxx>> 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.
> 
>     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.
> 

I think you could trim the entire top half of the interface and instead
invite the user to drag launchers onto the dialog.

-Scott Ritchie