On Fri, Oct 25, 2002 at 11:43:27AM -0500, Manoj Srivastava scribbled: > >>"Luke" == Luke Seubert <ls.maillist@verizon.net> writes: > > Luke> On 10/24/2002 7:20 PM, Nick Leverton at nick@leverton.org wrote: > >> Why just make one decision when you can make two, though ? And > >> isn't it All About Choice[tm] anyway ? ;-) > >> > Luke> Yeah, except that too much choice is rough too. Does anyone > Luke> here believe that Debian's current menu structure, deeply > Luke> nested with beaucoup items because it seeks to make available > Luke> ALL apps is simple, elegant, and easy to use for Linux newbies? > > Well, only as a matter of presentation. I do believe that > offering even newcomers the richness of choice that have drawn us to > Debian and free software in the first place is a good thing. True, but... > However, I can understand the need for simplicity, at least > initially, when one may tend to be overwhelmed by the choices. ...exactly - the trick is in informing the user about he possibility to use more software (for example using some kind of an opening screen the first time they log in - kind of the current Tips displayed when one starts GNOME or GIMP or the M$ Windows opening screen) making a note that for their comfort some software was preselected and advising not to change anything until they feel comfortable with what they are given at this point. > But that state may not last as long as people are positing: > after the first few minutes on a new system, after I have things > working to a certain degree, I go out and explore: ok, this is the > web browser I am using now. What are the other options? It's a simple matter of providing an icon on the desktop saying "Install More Software from Debian", I think. > I am concerned that there is no effort being invested to help > this process of discovery; and so much effort is being spent on the On the contrary, I do hope (and I'm sure others too) that we are able to provide a smooth path from newbie to a power user. It's a matter of streamlining the process - it will require a lot of thought, but it's certainly a noble effort. > initial simplicity that there is no room for the transition that > comes from familiarity and exploration. The initial ease of use > would become a strait jacket. Unless the barrier to accessing more > complete menus is lowered. I agree and it seems that the new menu system might make it both easy and possible. > Indeed, microsoft's collapsing of the menus seems a nice > approach -- you initially see only one web browser, but, expand the > initially hidden entries, and you see all the gory detail. Yes, it might be some idea worth exploring... marek
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