elementary-driveby team mailing list archive

[josh ring <frag180@xxxxxxxxx>]

Blueprint changed by josh ring:

Whiteboard changed:
  See the full specification for ideas and discussion.
  
  The terminal is a power tool. Making it "friendly" would be counter-
  intuitive to its function (IMHO, but what do I know, I'm not a hardcore
  dev xD). ~cassidyjames
  
  l think that if the user is forced to use a terminal, like me when I was
  a newby to Linux, he/she will try to execute the commands that appear in
  posts of forums, and guides on the Internet. Almost all of these
  instructions are for bash.  By this reason I think bash should stay
  there. --gandreoliva
  
  There is ZSH out, if you mean that. But I like BASH. --gotwig
  
  bash is already pretty friendly for those who need to use a shell. Don't
  think this is an area worth spending time on. --ttosttos
  
  I agree with shnatsel's direction -- simply install `fish` and make
  pantheon-terminal use it by default. It's an extremely minimal and
  unobtrusive effort.
+ 
+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 
+ I agree with fish in the short term, but as a long term idea I think a simplified shell for inexperienced users which blends gui elements with the console and simplifies the appearance could be valuable for the platform. This guided shell acts like an interactive tutorial and helps them get their work done at the same time, while having an advanced shell alongside caters for more advanced users.
+ I made some mockups of my vision of it:
+ 
+ by default the shell loads and tells the user what is in their home
+ directory, from the point of view of someone who has never seen a
+ console before, it immediately becomes more obvious it is a way of
+ interacting with files and the computer.
+ 
+ here the user has selected going to another directory and since the ls runs by default its more intuitive and autocompletion options can be seen appearing as they type, they can be selected with a mouse too. It might also be nice if the folder  buttons were clickable by the mouse.
+ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7244043/console_concepts/cd.png
+ 
+ another example of making things more intuitive is with the chmod command where they can select a the permissions they want for the file they want. simple.
+ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7244043/console_concepts/chmod.png
+ 
+ running applications from the terminal by default will give local options but if it is not found in the local directory it will show the executables in the system path
+ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7244043/console_concepts/run_app.png
+ 
+ someone who doesn't know linux may want to edit a text file so have it automatically call gedit and prioritise the list of files with text files first like this script.sh for example
+ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7244043/console_concepts/gedit.png
+ 
+ if the new user wishes to change user, entering the su command for them and presenting them with a list of available users which auto-completes makes life easier, also note the tab which informs on which user is currently at the terminal has changed on the top right.
+ http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7244043/console_concepts/su.png

-- 
Use a more user friendly default shell
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/elementaryos/+spec/friendly-shell