I recently posted a link to an article entitled Review: openSUSE 10.2 Earns A Seat At The Head Of The Table. When I posted the link, I made a comment that indicated I thought the guy’s conclusion was erroneous. Time for me to explain.
A lot has been written about the new KDE menu system. I believe I can sum it up in just two words: It Sucks. I design and implement user interfaces for a living, and the KDE team has violated all good design rules when they put the new menu system together. Here are a few design rules they violated:
- Never borrows ideas for your user interface from a company that produces grade D software and sells it with a grade A+ marketing organization.
- Never ‘improve’ your user interface so that it is harder to use than it was in the first place.
- Never make major changes in the user interface without providing the user a way to go back to the older interface.
- Never remove functionality from an interface or program unless that functionality already exists somewhere else in the system.
Let’s say, for example, you want to start up K3B. Here is what you would do with the old interface:
- Click the Start menu.
- Move up to the Multimedia entry.
- Move over to the CD/DVD Burning entry.
- Move over to the K3B item and click it.
You can see at a glance all the items in each submenu as you move through them. Here’s how the new menu system works with this:
- Click the Start menu.
- Move over to the Applications tab.
- Move up to the Multimedia item.
- Click the Multimedia item.
- Move to the CD/DVD Burning item.
- Click the CD/DVD Burning item.
- Move to the K3B item and click it.
Specifically, movement up and down the menu hierarchy in the new system requires more mouse movement and mouse clicks. Note in the scenario above, there are two clicks in the old menu selection and four clicks in the new one. It gets much worse when you want to back out of a submenu.
I think the rest of openSUSE 10.2 is better and more stable than earlier versions, but this menu system prevents me from using it at all.
Silly sign of the day:
Free/Open Source Software
- A Close Look at the OLPC
- The Free Software Movement and the Future of Freedom
- Linux lets you avoid upgrading computer
- Almost half of users will move to Linux for critical apps in 4 years
- Virtualization begins to materialize in the Linux kernel
- Making Linux Happen – It all comes down to this.
RIAA/MPAA/ESRB/BSA/FCC
- Sununu tackles broadcast flag
- How the RIAA Litigation Process Works
- AllofMP3 and globalization
- CEA head calls for refocused anti-piracy measures
Stupid Patent Tricks, DRM and Other IP Nonsense
- Court Rules in Favor of MedImmune
- Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo sued over joystick design
- An Obvious Patent Law Fix?
- Federal jury to weigh infringement issues
- CES – Experts: Vendors need to reach DRM consensus
Other News
- Vista licensed for use on devices of “up to two processors” only
- Bush to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq
Security/Our Rights
- Judge lifts order that led to YouTube ban in Brazil
- US admits privacy breach on airline data
- No Fixes for Microsoft Word Zero-Day Flaws
- NSA offers Vista installation tips – Only one necessary: DON’T DO IT!
- TSA Fun: Service Animals
- Microsoft patches four holes
- Security plan excels at showmanship – not strategy
- They Take it Seriously? Oh, Sure
Big Brother
- Is Privacy Overrated?
- US ‘targets al-Qaeda’ in Somalia – GWB War 3?