[ale] ranting about new Ubuntu UI

[Ron Frazier]

Richard,

To each his own, I guess, but I'm afraid I would have to disagree with 
some of this.  The basic controls of a computer are pretty much 
universal at this point, and have been developed and proven over decades 
of use.  There aren't too many people in developed countries who've 
never had a chance to use a computer.  Most newby users are taught the 
basics in school, sometimes as early as grammar school.  In developing 
countries, those people unaware can be taught at the time they get the 
opportunity to use the technology.

The basic controls of a car are pretty much universal as well.  Every 
car pretty much has a steering wheel, an accelerator, a brake, and a 
gear shift.  It would be ludicrous to build a car without these.

Similarly, in a computer, the universal elements of a GUI are (in my 
opinion) clicking, double clicking, right clicking  (if you have a right 
button), application windows, close window, maximize window, restore 
window, minimize window, scrolling, and menus.  It would be equally as 
ludicrous to build a computer without these.  These basic functions can 
be taught in 30 minutes.  After that, they can be used for a lifetime.

This flashy wiz bang stuff doesn't work for me, and never has.  What 
works for me is to have the options available to me obvious at all times 
or clearly and quickly accessible from a menu that is organized an an 
efficient manner (for a mouse and conventional display).  One of the 
very first things I do when configuring a computer is to turn off all 
the functions that try to hide things from me.  I want the task bar 
visible at all times, I want all the status indicators that are relevant 
visible at all times, whether they're "active" or not.  I want my menus 
and scroll bars visible at all times.  I want a task bar button visible 
for each application, and I don't want them "combined".  Finally, I want 
a menu visible on each app at all times.  If I have two file managers 
tiled side by side on the screen, a common occurrence, I want to be able 
to instantly locate the main menu options of either window instantly and 
know where to click my mouse to select the View menu (for example) 
without having to wait for the menu to appear or having to look for it 
in a place that's not related to the window I'm working with.  I also 
don't what to have to figure out which window is in the foreground to 
know which menu is going to activate.  If I click file / cut with those 
two file managers open, I don't want it deleting the wrong file because 
I didn't know which window the menu was attached to.  At least, with the 
old way, the file menu on the left window works on the left window; and 
the file menu on the right window works with the right window.

I remember a time at one of my employer's offices that I was trying to 
photocopy a small paper about the size of an index card.  The copier 
kept complaining and telling me it didn't have any 4" X 6" paper and to 
put some in.  If I had a shotgun at the time, I would have been tempted 
to use it on the machine.  I didn't care if the output was 8.5" X 11".  
I just wanted the stinking copy.  After 10 minutes of going nuts, 
someone told me to press the copy button twice to override the message.  
I wasted all that time and frustration just because of stupid interface 
design.  A simple "Press the copy button again to copy anyway" message 
is all it would have taken to prevent this from ever happening.

I'm sorry, but I don't feel that the changes I complained about in the 
previous message are improvements in any way.  I think they make the 
computer harder to use, less efficient, and more confusing.  A computer 
has a certain (minimal) amount of complexity which must be understood in 
order to use it at a basic level.  I don't interpret the success of a UI 
design to exclusively be whether a newby can use it without any training 
whatsoever.  I interpret it to be successful if, once he's no longer a 
complete newby, he can use the system efficiently and effectively.  It's 
hard to meet both of these criteria, and if you have to choose, you 
should give preference to the non-newby, since he'll only be a total 
newby for a short time, and he'll be a non-total-newby for the rest of 
his life.  If a newby is not willing to accept a minimal amount of 
training or read a minimal amount of instructions to use the system, he 
should stick to tablets and smart phones.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 6/20/2011 6:30 PM, Richard Bronosky wrote:
> heavily invested in making computers for the humans who have not yet
> had the opportunity to use computers. I would bet that UX studies show
> that people do not complain unless they already know to expect the
> menu bars for every open window to be visible at the same time
> regardless of the fact that you only the menu bar for the foreground
> app. I know for a fact that people who are new to computers don't know
> that scrollbars scroll content until they are taught. Why teach them
> _that_? Why not teach them to use a UI that is uncluttered? And
>    

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
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Ron Frazier

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