unity-design team mailing list archive

[Sohail Mirza <mirzmaster@xxxxxxxxx>]

How about a compact menu that is accompanied by a search bar, not dissimilar
from the Start Menu to be found in Windows Vista/7?  Navigate the menus if
you know where a command is to be found, otherwise just start typing the
name.

This could be aided by some mechanism for then informing the user where that
discovered command is to be found in the menus so that they can retrain
their muscle memory.


On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 4:33 PM, Mario Vukelic <mario.vukelic@xxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> On Fri, 2010-04-23 at 11:36 -0700, Eric Pritchett wrote:
> > I'd like to suggest having a Compact Menu View mode enabled by default
> > for most windows/apps.  The thinking is if a user only uses the File,
> > Edit, View, Help, etc 5 times out of 100 and uses the icons below it
> > 95/100 times then wouldn't it be better to hide the menu?
>
> MS Office did this at least up to Office 2003 (dunno about 2007/2010),
> and as far as I can tell it was a big failure. I know only two groups of
> users: those that turn it off immediately and those who are continually
> confused by it. We turn it off by default in our company (15,000 staff)
> because tests indicated that the number of generated helpdesk calls
> along the lines of "I know that this feature exists because I have used
> it before, but for the life of me I cannot find it anymore" would be
> rather large.
>
> For proficient users it decreases the effectiveness of muscle memory. I
> don't hunt for menus in the Office apps I use a lot, it all works pretty
> automatic. I tried to work with this feature in Office, but every time
> the menus get rearranged it makes me stumble and pause to think and
> hunt. Just because I haven't used a particular feature for a few days or
> weeks does not mean that I want to go hunt for it.
>
> I do not think that computers should rearrange UI elements autonomously
> until they have become much, much better at interpreting human
> intentions, which I guess is a hard AI problem.
>
> Apparently some version of XP had a "feature" to move files and
> shortcuts from the desktop into a folder on the desktop, "unused items"
> or some such, objecting to what MS apparently perceived as untidiness on
> the user's part. It did this when the user had not interacted with the
> file for x amount of time (may have been 3 months). Unfortunately it did
> apparently not check whether the computer had been used at all during
> this time. Sure enough, my mother - who turns her computer on once in a
> blue moon - called me each time because "all my stuff is gone". Note
> that she also was used to launch applications from desktop shortcuts.
>
> Now, this is a crass example of stupidity on Microsoft's part, and one
> that can easily be fixed or at least improved by taking actual computer
> usage into account. However, it still serves to illustrate how easily
> users freak out if their stuff is being rearranged autonomously*.
>
>
> Other opinions:
>
> http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=94078
>
>
> Regards
> Mario
>
>
> * Users I know manage their files spatially, with dozens of files spread
> out over two large screens. When they need one, they will know that
> it's, say, in the top right corner of the right-hand screen. It looks
> messy and it may not seem or even objectively be the most efficient
> method, but it works for them and I must admit that it does make a
> certain sense in the context of their work.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana<https://launchpad.net/%7Eayatana>
> Post to     : ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana<https://launchpad.net/%7Eayatana>
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>



-- 
sfm