Re: galeon (not) in Debian stable
<quote who="Sebastien Bacher">
> But the fact is, that gnome's peoples seems to don't like features.
Duuuude, forget "features", talk about "behaviours". I'll demonstrate with
your next point:
> An example: possibility to remove a window from alt+tab list from metacity
>
> Do you know gdesklets ? Try to open an editor and a console and to switch
> between both apps with alt+tab and 5 desklets on your desktop ... no may
> to use alt+tab with all these un-uselees windows on the list.
>
> Last time I've asked about that, havoc said that metacity doesn't need
> such a feature.
Okay, so you have a behavioural problem here. gDesklets appear in the
alt-tab list, when really, they should not. You've suggested adding a method
of removing a window from metacity's alt-tab list. Can you imagine trying to
explain that to someone? Do you know how hard that actually is, given the
way X works? Can you see how intricate a process that would be, and how hard
it would be to understand what it is, let alone why it exists or how it
works?
It's too hard. People don't want to understand the process of window
management, they just want it to work.
You know the real solution to this behavioural problem? Fix gDesklets. Very
simple. They shouldn't be in the window list to begin with, and it's very
easy for the gDesklets code to say "i'm not the kind of window that should
be seen in the window list".
It's not that gDesklets is broken, it's just that the developers hadn't seen
this behavioural issue yet.
You have to think deeper about usable ways to fix behavioural problems.
Adding an option or a "feature" or a method of hacking around a problem is
nine times out of ten *not* the right way to do it.
> I've the impression that most feature request are rejected. How many
> time the "stay on top" option was away from metacity ?
There's been a quick-key to turn this on for a very long time. It's not in
any of the menus because it's not something that would be used very often,
and is pretty confusing. Again, the process of managing windows should be
totally opaque. Humans shouldn't be doing this stuff, because it's a waste
of their time.
> Yes, I've the choice and I'm using galeon. But I like gnome and sometime
> wonder if the good choices are made for all ...
I deeply value GNOME's direction. We will win. I also use Galeon at the
moment. It's okay, choice is alive and well.
> And what is the "the highest priority target user categories" ? The
> beginners who need simple apps, isn't it ?
No, come on, don't be silly. :-) You can't have a "desktop for everyone" and
bog it down with irrational and indescribable options.
> Yes, so no need to have so many browser if you just want to see a html
> page. But some people like features. Look on galeon's Debian BTS to see
> that user are missing many features from galeon 1.2 in galeon 1.3 for the
> moment. Some people was against replacing 1.2 by 1.3 because of the large
> feature missing on the new version ... and Epiphany is more featureless
> than galeon1.3.
People who file bugs in Debian's bug tracker are, on the whole, highly
technical and anal retentive in nature. That's cool, because I'm one of
them. But you know... I much rather using a desktop that doesn't get in my
way with all sorts of silly distractions from my real work.
:-)
- Jeff
--
linux.conf.au 2004: Adelaide, Australia http://lca2004.linux.org.au/
We're passe with class, eh?
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