There's a lot of redundancy in those results Helps so devs can't reply, "Well, that guy was just stupid".
I am a dev (though not on frontend/UI stuff). But that's exactly the point. Many users are for the most part pretty stupid, and that is reality. Unusable software is unusable.
Even if your users are not stupid, designing as if they are is usually beneficial.
> P7 and P11 thought that "LibreOffice Calc" was a calculator "Calc" is just not a smart name for a spreadsheet application. > and P7 and P9 thought Ubuntu Software Center was the Recycle Bin. I understand that, because that is what the icon looks like.
I wonder if a shopping cart would be less ambiguous? This looks like one of those cultural issues that's hard to get right everywhere, though.
yeah..agreed. i like the idea of a tool tip "Spreadsheet".
I work with Ubuntu for work ( we make ARM devices ) so every so often I have to run Natty to test if it is usable yet. If you have a "decent" OpenGL graphics card, then depending on when you install it may or may not work. I currently have an issue with working with the dock or launcher or whatever name they are calling it. Right clicks are being passed through to the desktop so I can't remove or add anything to it.…
How well do the ARM desktops run if you log in with a basic gnome2 session, no gnome-panel, plus avant-window-navigator?
That doesn't matter. If you want normal people to use Ubuntu, you don't start on at them about Unix conventions.
You also can't just demand people who have been using naming conventions for twenty plus years to write off that history just because Microsoft decided to use something different. I'm pretty sure Ubuntu adoption rate isn't affected in the least regardless of whether you call it the Super key or Windows key, or Logo key, or any of the other names it's gotten over the years. "Normal people" don't ever use that key anyw…
1. You can if they are in a very small minority.
2. It's not about adoption. It's about usability. Everyone will know what you mean if you call it 'the Windows key'. The same is not true if you call it 'the Super key'.
I work for a small non-profit radio station where we've got a couple of Ubuntu boxes (running 10.10, or whatever the latest version with standard GNOME 2 is). I've only done it because we recently expanded our volunteer base and didn't have XP licences to cover computers for every desk! I've actually been really surprised at how well the volunteers have taken to using the machines, and how some even seem to prefer th…
I have had similar experiences putting it on my friends laptops. If you come to me asking for a reformat job twice in 6 months, you get ubuntu. They never need to ask again after that.
Windows (certainly 7) handles this perfectly well - try and type a character that isn't allowed in a file name and it pops up a tool tip saying it isn't allowed, along with a quick list of other characters that are disallowed. It also throws that key press away, so it doesn't have to be deleted and can't cause another kind of issue. This is the difference between products which have undergone long rounds of user test…
> [...] it pops up a tool tip saying it isn't allowed, along with a quick list of other characters that are disallowed. That still leaves me a little ashamed on behalf of the industry. Why should any characters be disallowed?
Because we need to identity directory markings. Its as simple as that, we could use *, but then you couldn't put that in a Linux file name. Whatever character is used to separate Directories, is going to have to be disallowed in file names, understanding that basic concept and why it can never be fixed, will take you a few hows of research in bassic operating system file manipulation.
Yes, I thought the same thing! Really shows the value of running tests with people with other backgrounds. Just for fun I tried saving a document in Microsoft Office 2007 here with a filename containing slashes. I got a slightly better response: "Ogiltigt filnamn" (Illegal filename). Not as confusing, but still no help at all on what was wrong with it or how to correct it.
My father once asked for my help because his computer (Windows, either 2000 or XP) told him he was doing something "illegal" and he was worried he was breaking the law.
I laughed for 12 minutes at that because my mother did the same thing.