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Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

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Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#191

Post by p_ing »

scottjenson wrote: post #2

I've given dozens of talks, but this one seems to have struck a chord, as it's my most popular video in quite a while. It's got over 14k views in less than a day. I'm excited so many people are interested in desktop UX!

This was a great talk! I'm interested to hear what you believe the desktop UX ('human interface') issues to actually be, today.

Rightly your talk was not about specific issues or specific solutions, but as a desktop user (macOS primarily, Windows secondary but historically, and KDE a distant third), beyond the mishmash of different UIs, i.e. Windows 11 presenting Windows 3.x or just outright dumb decisions such as transparent everything, what is it that you want to solve for people on the desktop space to make them more /productive/ than they currently are? Especially now that our primary vehicle to information creation and sharing is not the desktop, but the web browser alone?

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#192

Post by doubled112 »

hulitu wrote: post #178
AlienRobot wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it's not AI... yet.

It is a poor person, sitting in a 3rd world country, thanscribing the text in your clipboard. See Alexa for details. /s I'm only half joking.

There’s an API (Actually People Implemented) for that.

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#193

Post by jrowen »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #140
jrowen wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would almost define "experience" as that which can't be described by UML. Ask any person to go and find a stick and use it to brush their teeth, and then ask if that "experience" was the same as using their toothbrush. Invoking UML is absurd.

You know some of us old timers still remember a time before people just totally abandoned the concept of having functional definitions and iso standards and things like that. Funny how we haven’t done anything on the scale of Hoover Dam, Three Gorges, ISS etc…since those got thrown away User Experience also means something specific in information theory and UX and UML is designed to model that explicitly: https://www…

Notably, the terms "UX" and "experience" are not present in that document. UI and UX are different things. UX is a newer concept that is more based on observing users and their emotional reactions to using the product.

UML and functional definitions and iso standards are still important, it's just not UX.

Good luck never observing users using your product. Not everything is a space shuttle, recall that we are talking about toothbrushes here.

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#194

Post by Telaneo »

hulitu wrote: post #180
Telaneo wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who got into software development not because they enjoy working with computers, but rather because it pays well. Outside of work, they're the same as any other casual who's got a phone as their primary computing device.

> any other casual who's got a phone as their primary computing device. I tried to use my phone as a "computing device", but i mostly can use it as a toy. Working with text and files on a phone is... how to say nicely ... interesting.

I feel the same way, but if you're a person who doesn't deal with files outside of work (photos are in the photo app, notes in the notes app), and don't deal with text beyond messaging and short notes, having those things be easier to work with is a bit like selling fridges northern Canada.

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#195

Post by pdonis »

array_key_first wrote: post #186
pdonis wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Trinity Desktop on Linux because it's basically the same as the Windows 95-XP taskbar interface, and has no plans to change.

To be fair, modern KDE has more-or-less the same taskbar. And the taskbar is also not optimal. Having text next to the icons is great, but it means you can only really have, like, 4 or 5 applications open and see all their titles and stuff. Which is why modern windows switched to just icons - which is much worse, because now you can't tell which app window is which! The optimal taskbar, imo, is a vertical one. I basi…

> modern KDE has more-or-less the same taskbar.

More or less, yes; Trinity Desktop is basically KDE 3. But KDE has added on a lot of other cruft since then that has no value to me.

> Having text next to the icons is great, but it means you can only really have, like, 4 or 5 applications open and see all their titles and stuff.

That's what multiple virtual desktops are for. My usual desktop configuration has 8. Each one has only a few apps open in it.

> The optimal taskbar, imo, is a vertical one.

I do this for toolbars in applications like LibreOffice; on an HD aspect ratio screen it makes a lot more sense to have all that stuff off to the side, where there's more than enough screen real estate anyway, than taking up precious vertical space at the top.

But for my overall desktop taskbar, I've tried vertical and it doesn't work well for me--because to show titles it would have to be way too wide for me. The horizontal taskbar does take up some vertical space at the bottom of the screen, but I can make that pretty small by downsizing it to either "Small" or "Tiny".

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#196

Post by hulitu »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #131
linguae wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it dead because people don’t want the desktop, or is it dead because Big Tech won’t invest in the desktop beyond what’s necessary for their business? Whether intentional or not, it seems like the trend is increasingly locked-down devices running locked-down software, and I’m also disturbed by the prospect of Big Tech gobbling up hardware (see the RAM shortage, for example), making it unaffordable for regular peopl…

MS invests in actively making desktop experience. But outside of that I doubt there will be many users actually doing stuff (as opposed to just ingesting content) that will abandon desktop, and other ones like Mac UI isn't getting worse

> MS invests in actively making desktop experience.

... shitty.

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#198

Post by ares623 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #184
ares623 wrote: post #9

Are we stuck with the same toothbrush UX forever?

This is a bad example because it's solving a problem over a much more constrained domain. A UX revolution in teeth-cleaning technology would probably look like some kind of bio-organism or colony that eats plaque and kills plaque-producing bacteria. In an ideal world you wouldn't have to brush your teeth at all, aside from an occasionally floss or scrub.

Disagree. You're ignoring cost completely (end to end including R&D, manufacturing, logistics, testing, approvals)

I can have a personal dentist brush my teeth while I lie down.

There's a point where UX-that-works-at-acceptable-cost is good enough.

Maybe desktop UX is like the shark. An evolutionary dead-end, but it gets the job done extremely well. (Would be cool if they have lasers on their frickin' heads though)

Re: Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]

#199

Post by wiether »

scottjenson wrote: post #2

I've given dozens of talks, but this one seems to have struck a chord, as it's my most popular video in quite a while. It's got over 14k views in less than a day. I'm excited so many people are interested in desktop UX!

I'm not into UX much, but listening to someone with such experience and knowledge in their craft, giving a well structured and coherent talk, without shouting or trying to sell anything felt... peaceful?

It's only in the end that I realized I just spent 40 minutes watching the video.

Thanks for sharing it with us!

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