Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 11th May 2007 18:21 UTC, submitted by diegocg
"The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first alpha release of the KDE Desktop Environment, version 4.0. The release is a basis for the integration of powerful new technologies that will be included in KDE 4. It has been given the codename 'Knut'." Meanwhile, the KDe HIG team is looking for help with finding applications that violate the (unfinished) KDE HIG.
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Member since:2005-10-02
There's that not looking at things in black and white I was talking about 
As you say, KDE can have wonderful architecture and well integrated parts along with a simplified GUI, which some would say is the best of both worlds. Thanks for the reply.
As you say, KDE can have wonderful architecture and well integrated parts along with a simplified GUI, which some would say is the best of both worlds. Thanks for the reply. Exactly, and that's what's happening with KDE4 and the reason why I - as a Power User running Gnome - am extremely excited. KDE4 is the dream come true for the Power User in Gnome (but don't tell anyone I wrote that
Add to that the loveliness of QT4 - uuhhmmmmmm :-*
Member since:2005-08-27
Simple UIs get frequently characterized as newbie friendly
The way I see it, the problem with this kind of attitude is that when users grow out of the newbie status, their preference is quite sure to change a bit. And then the "simple & clean" look may not be a plus after all.
Furthermore, as You mentioned, when features get hidden away in the guts of the app (meaning deep down in some menu, or as a keyboard shortcut or as a DCOP interface command), they are so much less used than those that are accessible as a button. Now, going back to this developing newbie scenario, when the newbie has accustomed [him/her]self to the basic features, he/she probably wants to know if there's more to it then that. And if the stuff gets hidden away, then there has to be a counscious effort to look for it rather than the usual "ooh. what does this button do?...wow, cool. that could be useful".
Of course, everything cannot be reasonably stuffed into the "main window", but having buttons enabling quick access to features removed just because newbies feel intimidated by them is also a bit selfish. Remember that all newbies grow to be experienced users at some point.
Of course, this thought is based mostly on my experience and the experience of the people I have had the "pleasure" to "train" so it certainly is a bit more biased towards the attitudes of the quick-learning part of society. I understand fully that some people cannot stand the attitude that I should only click buttons the functions of which I'm aware of and leave the others put till I find out what they do.
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Member since:
2005-11-11
all the EXCEPTIONAL feature KDE offers, like fish://, Kate, kickoff, and others. I sometimes feel KDE is just to crowded. I know all buttons have their goal, but sometimes it's just too much.
As you say, KDE can have wonderful architecture and well integrated parts along with a simplified GUI, which some would say is the best of both worlds. Thanks for the reply.
There's that not looking at things in black and white I was talking about
**
I would like to say something regarding the simplification though (and this isn't a direct response to the previous post, just my thoughts in general). Simple UIs get frequently characterized as newbie friendly (including in my previous post). I don't fully agree with that though, for my previously mentioned reason that less features are exposed.
I'll take as my example the increase/decrease-text-size buttons in Konqueror, frequently targetted in Konqueror-needs-to-slim-down diatribes. The thing is, those functions get used. When my mother forgets her glasses, the text size must go up.
One might reply that there is a keyboard shortcut for it, but my response is that if a function requires a keyboard shortcut, in many cases it might as well not be there. My father, after years of computer use (and 13 years of higher education) still doesn't know about ctrl-c/ctrl-v copy and paste.
Think back to the days of Word Perfect 5.1, the Word Processor my mother started out using. It had keyboard shortcuts out the wazoo; surely that proves that a neophyte can use them. Thing is, she had a cheat sheet that fit over the keyboard that made it actually usable. That works OK if one app gets most of the use, but even then it is really suboptimal.
Yeah, anyone who users computers enough and cares a bit will learn shortcuts. But that is not describing the newbies all the UI cuts are supposed to cater to. People are attempting to cater to them by removing functionality, and the functionality lost is not always trivial or seldom used.
It's a matter of finding a balance of course, and efforts to do so must avoid solipsism (towards which I have strayed by talking about my parents). I just feel certain popular trends of pare-down-the-gui thought take it too far.
Edited 2007-05-11 20:24