The stupid toolbox

[Celeste Lyn Paul]

On Monday 03 March 2008 14:32:02 Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Monday 03 March 2008, Celeste Lyn Paul wrote:
> > On Monday 03 March 2008 13:21:43 Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > > d) realize that touch screens are going to be a much, much bigger part
> > > of our future and that it would be nice to avoid context menus. couple
> > > that realization with the fact that virtually none of us are using
> > > plasma on a touchscreen in daily usage (afaik?) and so we would have no
> > > other way to effectively test and use it
> >
> > I realise touch screens are going to be a big part of our future, but I
> > don't think we should makes sacrifices for keyboard/mouse interaction
> > defaults because of a smaller audience.  Compromising to that level will
> > only degrade the experience for both groups.  There are enough
> > significant differences between the environments that we should consider
> > a
> > hardware-based profile.
>
> a) this is not a point in isolation, but part of the combined reason
> b) can you propose a solution for the "we don't have people testing on
> touch screen" problem?

buy me a touch screen :P

(This is a problem in itself.  There are pen-based tabletPCs and mobile phones 
and there are touch-based tabletPCs and mobile phones.  With similar yet 
distinct interaction patterns..)

> in many of these conversations, there is a distinct lack of appreciation
> for the fact that in order to have a well formed completed product we
> actually have to have a development process that allows us to get there.
> only actively using features will get us there.
>
> and again, i humbly submit that this is people saying "i don't like it" for
> purely aesthetic reasons and then cloaking it all in a bullshit usability
> argument that ignores real usability issues. so, again, let's concentrate
> on fixing the aesthetic issues, which will innevitably crop up on devices
> as well so we may as well address them now.

So what's more important to you?  usability or aesthetic?  There are always 
tradeoffs and they seem to only go in your direction.  What argument is this 
anyway?  Are you concerned about the usability of the toolbox or that taking 
it away makes it not pretty?  You get so anxious when people either a) don't 
get what you're saying or b) don't like what you are saying that the 
conversation spirals out of control before the rest of us can figure out 
what's going on.  I thought I understood the problem but now I don't know if 
we are talking about the same thing.

I don't remember seeing anything about aesthetics or usability in this 
problem, only that people were complaining about the toolbox and wanted it 
removed.  The issues shouldn't be that they want it removed, but WHY.  

What was the question again?

> (yes, i'm getting a strong sense of deja vu with regards the recent kickoff
> selection thing, because it's very much the same sort of issue.)

kickoff was an different problem.  people were complaining about usability 
when we should have been addressing aesthetic.  I (ignorantly) assume when 
you ask for my opinion it is on a usability matter, not "do you think it 
looks pretty".  Usability !~ Pretty (just look at Jakob Nielsen's website ;P)

-- 
Celeste Lyn Paul
KDE Usability Project & HCI Working Group
usability.kde.org