Bug#382889: debian-installer: non-optimal order of operations

[Michael Gilbert <michael.s.gilbert@gmail.com>]

Package: debian-installer
Severity: normal

one of the biggest qualms with the windows installer is that various
dialogs pop up dispersed throughout the installation, forcing the user
to constantly attend to the system (merely to hit "next" when the 
appropriate time comes).

it appears to me that the debian-installer suffers this usability
concern as well.  for example, user set up and configuration comes after
disk partioning (which can take a reasonble amount of time especially
ext3 on large disks).  if user set up were before disk partitioning,
then the user would not need to wait as the installer could continue
directly into package download and installation.

i suggest that some time be spent considering the installation order of
operations, and making sure that the user is not being forced to attend
the system unnecessarily.

mike

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (600, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.16-2-686
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)