[Mageia-dev] freedesktop spec and categories

Thu Feb 24 13:27:03 CET 2011

Le jeudi 24 février 2011 à 10:06 +0100, Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
+> Le jeudi 24 février 2011 08:27:36, Oliver Burger a écrit :
+> > Am Donnerstag 24 Februar 2011, 08:20:41 schrieb Tux99:
+> > > I have always hated that apps 'disappear' in the Other folders, can we
+> > > not completely get rid of the Other folders, they don't make any sense
+> > > (at least intuitively for a user).
+> > 
+> > IIRC this is triggered by the "Categories" entry in the desktop file of the
+> > application. I think we would have to patch ALL upstream desktop files to
+> >  get rid of it which would be quite a pain.
+> > 
+> > Oliver
+> > 
+> 
+> I don't think so. Several Mandriva releases ago, there was no such "More" 
+> entry, but real sub-categories in the menu. Then it changed for what we have 
+> now, but that wasn't a change in the .desktop files, rather a menu 
+> configuration. I guess that was a decision meant to bring "simplicity",
+
+Yes, and that's a choice that can be backed by several studies on the
+subject, the working memory have been estimated to be 7 chunks of
+information ( between 5 and 9 is a wildly accepted range ). I remember
+having seen a studie saying that it was less than this, but I cannot
+find it ( and it was on slashdot, so this may have been wrong ).
+
+So presenting only ~7 chunks of information ( ie ~7 items in menu ) is
+better according to the current cognitive model used, such as this one :
+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_information_processor_model 
+
+>  but I 
+> always hated that choice, because nobody can know in advance whether an 
+> application will show in the first level or be hidden in the "more" section.
+
+Technically, nobody can know in advance if a software is installed or
+not. Sure, that's a problem to give support to someone by phone or to
+write documentation. But IMHO, it is better to have uncluttered menus,
+as a menu is basically used more often than the support. Of course, from
+the person giving support,  the benefit of having someone else menu
+uncluttered are near 0, as they do not use the system of someone else.
+
+>  I prefer a 2-level menu tree. If people find that it makes too much clicks, 
+
+This is not the number of click, but the fact that it take a longer time
+to scan the whole menu. Like reading a article with and without carriage
+return. The number of word to read are the same, but it is easier with
+carriage return, because this doesn't require any form of coordination
+( ie, this is not on the same cognitive level ).  
+
+I am not sure if I am clear enough, but on the other hand, I fear that
+explaining the whole topic would requires much more time, and time have
+showed that people hate when I explain them ergonomics ( as seen on
+various rpmdrake bugs ).
+
+> then 
+> they shouldn't be using the menu but add a shortcut to the applications they 
+> use regularly in their taskbar or desktop (or just use ALT+F2).
+
+So if you do not like the current system, you can just add a shortcut or
+use "alt + F2", and that's all :)
+
+-- 
+Michael Scherer
+
+