unity-design team mailing list archive

[Evan Huus <eapache@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 8:59 PM, Jeremy Bicha <jeremy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 22 April 2011 20:04, Evan Huus <eapache@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> To be honest, I don't find the System Settings window useful. It lists
>> almost fifty different subcategories in only a couple of major groups,
>> and while the search tool is handy, it's not smart: searching for
>> "wallpaper" or "background" lists no results because the Appearance
>> dialogue doesn't use those words in its name.
>
> The gnome-control-center redesign in Gnome 3 and therefore what will
> be in Ubuntu 11.10 is much more user-friendly and searchable. For the
> record, it currently has 17 links in 3 major categories (Personal,
> Hardware, and System) and searching for wallpaper or background works.
>
> It works so well, Gnome Shell hides all the old-style
> System>Preferences and System>Applications links from their
> application launcher. I agree with this and don't think we need to
> have search results for every aspect of System Settings in the Unity
> dash, especially as the Unity dash launcher shipped in 11.04 doesn't
> have search optimized. By optimized, I mean search works, but it's not
> smart yet. (Try searching for office.)

In this case then maybe adding a launcher to this by default is sufficient.

> Because the System Settings link is impossible to miss in the Session
> menu which all users will have to use to log off, I don't think
> discoverability is an issue, especially not with the much-improved
> System Settings app.

You wouldn't think so, but the usability study that started this
thread showed people had a lot of trouble finding it none-the-less.
Users don't necessarily read the menu items they don't plan on
interacting with, and it's not the most obvious place for it.

Still, if the control centre for 11.10 is as nice as it sounds, then I
think a default launcher for it will be more than enough. Maybe put it
between the workspace switcher and the lens area?

Just my two cents,
Evan