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Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

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Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#81

Post by kaba0 »

savolai wrote: post #60
cycomanic wrote: post #35

> It's worth mentioning that I agree that the modern design paradigm probably is friendly to beginner users in many ways. But at some point, people stop being beginners. People who use computers several hours per day, performing a wide variety of tasks in many different programs, should also be taken in to account when designing software. As such, my critique comes from the point of what's usually called a "power use…

The basics: you are not your users. Just because it’s easy for you, doesn’t mean it’s easy for others. That is the entire basis of usability work. I cannot believe how resistant the tech community, like above, is to the very basics of human cognition. It’s your comment that’s the rant. OP has actual data from decades of research they are applying. Quoting myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41303387

What data does he have? OP wrote a basic opinion-piece on what they dislike. It’s just as valuable as the parent commenter’s opinion, so we can only say that one user found some feature hard to find. There is no ultimate design, and striving for 100% of users knowing everything immediately is just unrealistic.

If we are at opinions, I really dislike this absolutely tone-deaf attacking of GNOME that is always happening under these threads. There is criticism, and there is blind hate. There is definitely places to improve, though, but the style of writing matters.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#82

Post by rossant »

horsawlarway wrote: post #24

I want to add - outside of the technical discussion here. read in the voice of jeff foxworthy --- You might be a boomer if... you unironically think "thanks gnomebama" is a good thing to make a pun out of in a ui discussion the chef's kiss is the complaint is incorrect.

As a non American person I'm unfamiliar with this expression, what does it mean and where does it come from?

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#83

Post by tuna74 »

n3storm wrote: post #63

Maybe the arrogance is the worst feature of GNOME approach. They make this studies and constantly repeat how focused are they on usability that when an individual finds it not usable (not in that words) it's double frustating cause is like GNOME saying: "our average users are happy so you must to be handicaped"

Yeah, if you want a make a point you can just invent/hallucinate what other people (like Gnome devs devs) say.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#84

Post by kaba0 »

hedora wrote: post #41
cycomanic wrote: post #35

> It's worth mentioning that I agree that the modern design paradigm probably is friendly to beginner users in many ways. But at some point, people stop being beginners. People who use computers several hours per day, performing a wide variety of tasks in many different programs, should also be taken in to account when designing software. As such, my critique comes from the point of what's usually called a "power use…

I would have clicked the down arrow that’s attached to the list icon to get the list options. It wouldn’t even occur to me that the icon could be a toggle (both because it is not rendered as one, and because I’d expect more than two view options).

It does have a hover effect though. Design is always about discoverability. If you have seen something similar, you will try to apply that solution. If you haven’t, you try different stuff and see what happens.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#85

Post by tuna74 »

szszrk wrote: post #36
nextos wrote: post #3

I don't use Gnome since the days of version 2, which was really nice and friendly. But I was impressed by how well the latest iteration works in a tablet. That's a great advantage, because it's the same UI as a desktop. Plus, they have made sure all core applications work well using a touch UI.

It's funny to hear that now. Most people I knew back then used Linux on desktop. When Gnome 3 started to be a thing, I don't recall anyone that even had access to a touchscreen device. And suddenly you had to use touch gestures with mouse, your plugins were gone, menu items were almost gone, you lost possibility to have ANY way to display status. They did all-in on notifications instead. So if you got new mail there…

"And suddenly you had to use touch gestures with mouse, .."

I have used Gnome 3 since it was available in Fedora and I have never used any mouse touch gestures.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#86

Post by danbreuer »

hedora wrote: post #38
comex wrote: post #9

Decent critique, but it mixes together two things: the design language, and UI papercuts showing a lack of attention to detail. Consider the current macOS Finder: https://a.qoid.us/20240907-finder.png Finder's design is extremely similar to GNOME Files! And so the inherent downsides of the design language are present in Finder too, such as it being harder to drag windows around or click to activate windows. But macOS…

The current version of Finder is a massive regression from what it used to be. If you don’t believe me, fire up https://macos9.app on a machine with a mouse, and try organizing / browsing some files.

The finder in what you linked was nigh-unusable for me. My impressions:

- Where is the ability to easily split/tab for side-by-side directory comparison?

- Every directory is opened in a new window, which makes everything even more jarring

- (Do I just not know how to operate the window manager?)

- Is the not grid-aligned icon position saved? This seems like a long-term usability nightmare.

- How can I create something other than a directory?

- Where is the location bar?

Then again, I'm not familiar with old OR new macOS, so I might have a similar first experience with the new finder.

What I found nice is the UI/UX consistency. Modern systems don't really have that anymore, with all the accumulated partial UI overhauls and different UI libraries.

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#88

Post by tuna74 »

IshKebab wrote: post #75

I couldn't agree more. The Gnome devs have a very long track record of imposing universally hated UI/UX design on people. I'd wonder why KDE isn't more popular, but I'm pretty sure the main reason is that the Gnome devs also have way better aesthetic taste than the KDE devs. Gnome simply looks much nicer in screenshots. They understand spacing. That and KDE had it's own major UI/UX fuck up with Plasma.

I really like the Gnome UX, so it can't be "universally hated". I'm gonna assume most devs and users like it as well (otherwise they would use and/or develop something else).

Re: Gnome Files: A detailed UI examination

#89

Post by edwintorok »

cycomanic wrote: post #35

> It's worth mentioning that I agree that the modern design paradigm probably is friendly to beginner users in many ways. But at some point, people stop being beginners. People who use computers several hours per day, performing a wide variety of tasks in many different programs, should also be taken in to account when designing software. As such, my critique comes from the point of what's usually called a "power use…

How do you find out what that keyboard shortcut is? I only found out when reading a similar article as the OP many years ago that complained about the removal of the textbox.

Otherwise I never would've known it is possible to activate the path textbox with a keyboard shortcut.

A UI needs to be both easy to use and discoverable. If "power users" have trouble discovering where the features they need are, why do we think the rest of the UI is easy to use/discoverable for everyone else?

(Although TBH I rarely use UI, and normally just use the terminal, except when upgrading the firmware of my keyboard, in which case I use Jade's file manager).

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