unity-design team mailing list archive

[Thibaut Brandscheid <randaltor@xxxxxx>]

On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 9:10 PM, Josh Strawbridge <
holyknightjoshua@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> just because an application ships with ubuntu doesn't mean that ubuntu has
> anything to do with actually working on the program.

I'm aware about that. The reason why I post it here is because I think it's
an general UX design problem.

personally, i'm against the idea.
> it is true that i rarely use them and do ignore them for the most part but
> when i do use them they're very helpful and serve their purpose well.
>
I have nothing against the sort functionality, I do think that the current
design - how a user can sort content - is wrong from an UX perspective.


> i'd hate to have a file manager or any music player without options to
> sort by this or that.
> i don't use them with my e-mail but i do sort important mail that i need
> to keep into different folders for generally the same purpose.
>
The question is, are you part of the main user group Ubuntu is targeting?
As I understand Ubuntu, it tries to be an OS for every one and because most
users are not computer experts the UI and basic functionality has to be
simple (not stupid simple, functionality simple). Sorting is nice, yes, but
should it be achieved the way it is currently?


> On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 9:27 PM, Gabriel Pettier <
gabriel.pettier@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I would hate this too, even if you seldomly use it, doesn't need you
won't find it infuriating that > it went away when you'll actually need it.
I'm pretty sure people would hate to have them
> removed.

Yes, we need the sort functionality, but do we need this one-click-buttons
in the "front UI"?
If you would have to go to the settings, or would have to right click to
unlock and make the Sort-By buttons visible and editable, would that be
such a big loss?


How often are the buttons used?
rarely

Do they represent a key functionality in an application?
no

How much space do they take?
They use horizontally quite much space (horizontal space is really valuable
space)

How important is the feature for an average user?
pretty unimportant

Usefulness compared to screen presentation?
I would give them 2 of 10 points