Ubuntu Wiki

AlexanderDomanski: Nice idea to remove stuff that is usually opened through Nautilus. I am doing so for a long time to keep menus clutter free. But I do not like the idea to remove the system tool menu. It must be a clear seperation if I administer (read change) my system or if I do something with my System which does not affect the system itself but has something to do with it. For me these are for example the log viewer and the network tools. By the way: I do not like the idea of moving new login to the screensaver. That is not a typical use of it, is it? It is crap to wait ten minutes for the screensaver to than click on new login. New login in nested window should be hidden only, and not entirely removed.

AlanTam: I cannot find a revalent spec about replacing things like "Firefox Web Browser" with "Web Browser". This makes sense since we should have specified a preferred browser in "Preferences -> Preferred Applications", and this link should point to that preferred application. The same should also apply to many other things, e.g. mail client, cd burner. Should we invent new /etc/alternatives/* for them?

AlanTam: "Preferences -> Removable Drives and Media Preferences" is mostly about "which application to launch" when an event occurs. So why not merge it into "Preferred Applications"?

ChristophNoack: First, keep up the good work. I have some comments to your specification, because things should presented to the user in a common and complete way.

• General Policy: For common operations there should never be only one point to access each function. People are lazy (sorry) - they don't want to search functions. On the other hand: People don't seem to understand "where" the programs come from if they are just linked with MIME.
• System Tools, Floppy Formatter: First, why use a "File"-Menu for that entry? Second, how to format USB-Sticks and stuff like that? There should be a common way to "erase" removable disks in the system. Maybe there is a way to extend the tool "disks"...
• System Tools, Gparted: It own's a really confusing name. Why not name it "Gparted Partition Editor" if we want to keep it?
• System Tools, New Login: Is it really necessary to enable the screensaver first? This is a key feature of multi-user systems - why not use "Fast User Switch Applet"? This encourages users to use it and does not create more "mess" on the "default" user desktop if it is used by a group of people (like a family).
• System Tools, Ubuntu Device Database: Why not hide after using it? And it seems more than a information collector - name it "Device Database Collector"?
• System Tools, Archive Manager: Is "Make compressed file..." an equivalent to "new archive"? We should not forbid the workflow: make archive -- drop Files from different places?
• System Tools, File browser: This is not really redundant. It opens another view of the user's data. Therefore it is not a representaton for one place, it is a file "browser". Maybe the Computer view can be opened in this view by default?
• Graphics, XSane: I think people do not want to start Gimp just to scan. Additionally, XSane owns functions for copying, emailing, batch-scanning etc. It should not be hidden (but it needs some interface love)

• Office, OpenOffice from Template: Why not name it "Create from Template"? Your proposed workflow: Create any document -- Access File menu to create from Template -- Close unused document. It should be better integrated - why not use it from the Nautilus "Create Document" menu? Certainly, "OO from Template" is not used, because there doesn't exist good templates yet.

• Sound and Video, Sound Joicer: What is a ripper? We should name it "Extractor" or something like that.
• Sound and Video, Totem: We should name it "Totem Media Player" and keep it. It has playlist functionality and plays already inserted DVDs.
• Preferences, File Management: I don't know if it is a good idea to hide it. It also contains preferences for desktop or trash. This is hard to discover if the user is used to "spatial browsing". Please refer to "System Tools, file browser".
• Coordinaten with Gnome, Font and Theme: The installation of new fonts should be simplified. It is hard to discover.

Just an idea: In contrast to over-slim the menu - create an applet to automatically shows the 5 most used applications in the Panel? First, the user learns what applicatons he owns - later there is only need for an one-click-start-program behaviour.

Hi! I made some notes while reading this spec too. * Configuration Editor - Hide, useful only for powerusers. Then why not to move it to Preferences -> Advanced Configuration Editor. Advanced users are users too!

* System Monitor - move to "System" > "Administration". Why? Is it somehow related to system administration? It seems to me that this tool is more like speedomeeter than steering wheel.

* Archive Manager - hide, as it's available as right click in Nautilus. As Cristoph said above, this breaks workflow.

* Image Viewer - Hide, as it is best accessed by launching a file. (Image Viewer == eog?) If hiden, then "Open with Image Viewer" is needed in directory's right click menu in nautilus. However I don't see a clear reason why not to use gThumb or something more complete as default image viewer/manager/simple editor. If I remeber right, they are both in default Breezy install. But this is another issue I suppose... However if you make gThumb the default it shouldn't be hiden, because it provides some extended functionality.

* Totem - hide, as it is best accessed by launching a file This assumption isn't allways correct. For example - if i have really long movie split in 3+ avis (theoras?) I would like to create playlist instead of double-clicking on files (which makes me exit the full screen mode) in the middle of the movie. Totem works with multiple files => according to your first rule it shouldn't be hidden.

* Multimedia Systems Selector - hide, due to confusion for users and likelyhood of users messing their system up -If that is your fear, then why not add "Reset to defaults" button instead hiding the tool even for those, who find it useful.

* Windows - hide, power users only Again - power users are users too! Addition of "Defaults" button would be sufficent enough.

* Some time ago i filed a bug ([WWW] http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=18591) about gnomebaker being in Sound & Video category. I think it's relevant.

A little note about user-friendlieness: please don't repeat the same mistake windows made - being user-friendly doesn't mean hiding advanced stuff from newbies. If it's hidden, there is a possibility they never discover it. Instead a clear and understandable organization is needed. So - keep up the good work!

NigelTao: Add the "Web Browser" and "E-mail" launchers to the top of the application menu - since they're used so often, make them two (close) clicks away, instead of three. Note that you can do this now, [http://browserbookapp.sourceforge.net/misc/menus-revisited.png on Breezy] with editable menus. Other OSs/distros that do so (or did so) include [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/winxp/images/img009.jpg Microsoft] and [http://aoeu.standardout.com/lxer/tom/26363/menu.jpg Novell Linux Desktop], although note that Microsoft botched it by putting the Web Browser icon the furthest away from the first click.