unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jan-Christoph Borchardt <inquata@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 9:05 AM, Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-06-28 at 02:25 +0200, Frederik Nnaji wrote:
>
>> 2. In which of the above categories would you prefer to see
>> "Contacts".. Personal or rather Network? or perhaps a new "People"
>> category?
>
> Network is for your local (computer) network and thus no place for
> Contacts/People.
>
> Not all contacts/people a user wants or has to manage are what they
> would call "personal".
>
>
> People and Contacts are not quite the same. The first implies or
> encourages bundling of as much information as you you can get, while the
> later puts an emphasis on addresses and communication channels.
>

Helpful further reading specifically on that:
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/designing-for-social
(Designing for Social Interaction – Strong, Weak, and Temporary Ties)


>> 3. What do you know about the concept of "Places" and how happy are
>> you with the current implementation of it?
>
> I think the Desktop folder has great potential to confuse users with its
> special dual presence.
>
> The whole dual approach of having a single-rooted filesystem and
> "Places" on top of it presents a scary conceptual depth.
>

This reminds me that I always wonder why not just the desktop space is
used for file management. Basically, marry the file manager (or
better: file browser) with the desktop background. Integrate some of
the file managers’ back and forward or breadcrumb controls. Ubuntu and
Mac OS already shows mounted drives but that’s just a half-assed
implementation.

I have to think this through more. Sorry for derailing the thread a bit. ;)