[openbeos] Re: Haiku poster
- From: "Matt white" <mattwhi@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:46:31 -0400
For me the key is to have the smoothest and most natural feeling interface.
Fluxbox, a windowing system for Linux is a good example. Everything you
could ever need to do was accessible with a right click. It needs to be easy
to jump into, but still have the power. I think Wyrm is right when he says
the real power users are modifying config files, so I think we need to air
on the side of ease of use rather than super power GUI. Devs may like KDE
but Devs arent the audience that Haiku is aiming at. I have always thought
the biggest failing of the Linux community was that they made an OS for
devs, they wrote so they know how to use it. Devs are a small minority and
the fact that one has to spend hours scouring the web for a driver or has to
use the command line to install something is a real turn off. Windows and
MacOS dropped that years ago. The command line is a "power users only" area.
And i think we should approach it in the same way. Anything that can eb done
in the command line you should be able to do in the GUI without jumping
through too many hoops to do it. That way everyone can run the computer the
way they want, be it via command line or start button.
On 8/25/07, Nicholas Blachford <nicholas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> The line:
>
> "Best defaults not maximum configurability"
>
> Made me cringe, it makes me think of Gnome which IMO is a horrible
> desktop.
> The problem with Gnome is they have equated "best options" with "only
> options".
> It assumes you are stupid and that makes it really annoying to use.
>
> KDE on the other hand has far too many options, it's lot better than
> it used to be though.
> That said I think the problem isn't so much one of too many options
> as more of how to organise them.
> They're not very well organised in KDE, it is this makes it seem
> horribly over complicated.
>
> I think it's quite possible to have a highly configurable system
> which is also easy to use, it will be very difficult to design but I
> do believe it can be done, it's really a question of balance.
>
> You need only look at OS X to see evidence of it - OS X is a lot more
> configurable than many might think. I know some people in the Haiku
> community don't like OS X but when it comes to GUI there's really
> nothing else out there which comes close.
>
> BeOS had a wonderful interface, it didn't blind you with science like
> KDE and it didn't assume you were a dimwit like Gnome. It was a GUI
> done right (mostly*). It was minimalist, but not too minimalist.
>
> *I've never liked the idea of a start menu type interface.
>
> I assume Haiku will go along the same path but this cannot be
> assumed. Unfortunately the open source community as a whole doesn't
> have a great record in UI design. Be had a number of user interface
> specialists, I don't know if Haiku has any.
>
> Anyway, this was really a rant about Gnome, not Haiku...
>
>
> Maybe I should have just said that I think that sentence could be
> better worded!
>
>
> --
>
>
> Nicholas Blachford
> www.ps3coderz.com
> www.blachford.info
> "Do not fear death, fear having not lived."
>
>
>
>
--
Matthew White, Head of computers for the less fortunate.
Other related posts:
