Stanislav Brabec wrote:
Vincent Untz wrote:
Hey,
What do people think about setting /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons to FALSE by default?
I'm trying this, and while a few things needs some changes (panel menus, mainly), I believe it makes the interface feel more stream-lined. So this might be something we could consider for 11.2...
Well, no.
But I guess I could live just with icons, at least in my favorite applications and main menu (I do that for toolbars).
Seriously, there are several ways how human brain locates items. Different people can have a significantly different time of recognition depending on way they have to locate it. It is more than a personal preference and it's not easy to change. That is why the default should be sufficient for everybody.
Text recognition:
Use verbs while searching. Read and understand text very fast. Verbally oriented people would like text menu.
Image recognition:
Use images while searching. Quickly recognize images and symbols. Visually oriented people would like icons.
Topological recognition:
Remember position of item. Quickly find it in a correct order. Topologically oriented people want the item in the same place it was last time.
Excellent summation of the various ways people access. As I thought about, I realize that I tend to use topology for items I use a lot, and confirm them via image recognition, never bothering with the text. On the other hand, if I am trying to do something that I only use infrequently, or have never used, text is very important, and once I locate what I want, I ask myself if I am likely to be using this more or less regularly. If so, I tend to try to memorize the image and the location. If not, I tend to try to remember the text (name) as my primary recall mechanism. As a result, I prefer both icons and text, and don't want the system to move locations on me, nor do I want it to dictate a paradigm to me that tries to shoe-horn me into using the desktop a certain way. In fact, that is one of the main reasons I migrated to Gnome after initially using "brand x" (at 10.3, my first foray into openSUSE, though not my first foray into Linux). And on upgrade, I want it to be easy to use the same visuals I used in the previous version, at install. Then I tend to explore new appearances once I get the fundamental things (release notes, changes in this version, etc.) into my brain. I think the key, as someone else noted, is to make it very easy for a user to upgrade (or use for the first time) with minimal changes from what they are accustomed to, and to give the user easy control to change appearances, but never to try to force them onto the user in order to "advance" the appearance or the functionality. If a new way is better (esthetically or functionally) and it is easy enough to discover and implement, people will naturally migrate to it. If the user doesn't find it better, maybe it wasn't as great for them as it seemed at the time it was developed. Attraction (to new ways of doing things) always is more successful in the long run, than promotions and forced transition. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-gnome+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-gnome+help@opensuse.org