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<H1>[Mageia-discuss] Suggestions</H1>
<B>David Coulette</B>
<A HREF="mailto:mageia-discuss%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-discuss%5D%20Suggestions&In-Reply-To=%3C1287605636.7374.38.camel%40localhost.localdomain%3E"
TITLE="[Mageia-discuss] Suggestions">dcoulette at yahoo.fr
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<I>Wed Oct 20 22:13:56 CEST 2010</I>
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<PRE>Le mercredi 20 octobre 2010 à 16:05 +0200, Kristoffer Grundström a
écrit :
><i> Right, but perhaps a video during the installation teaching them what
</I>><i> they should know for future installations would help.
</I>><i>
</I>"In this video we will show you how not to wipe out all your precious
data when repatitioning a harddrive, so that newt time you are more
cautious. Cheers from the team"
Providing educative material for beginners is a very good idea but ...
definitely not in an installer : installing an operating system is
always a risky procedure : the unknowing user should be guided or
informed BEFORE even inserting the installation media.
Educationnal material should be available through manuals, tutorial
videos, or better direct help from a more advanced user.
Trying to adapt the interface of a crucial piece of software to
educate newbies is a recipe for disaster :
- there's not limit on the amout of things people may not know so you
end up targeting people who know nothing and anyway will need help from
someone else. The attempt looks like trying to design a pen for people
who don't know yet how to write.
- the dumbing down of the interface bears the risk of making the
installer harder to use by knowlegeable users, who act based on accurate
and technical information.
One could argue for multi-level interface but you'll have to make
assumptions about the categories of users you create : apart from the
usual "sensible_defaults/advanced" modes you would have to encompass the
whole spectrum from absolute newbie to expert sysadmin.
I'm not advocating making a text-mode obscure installer, just that the
installer has a precise function : installing a system based on
unequivocal input from the user. Auto-detection of hardaware and
sensible defaults make the process easier and faster for the most common
cases, but you can't always avoid requesting more "technical" input from
the user.
Your idea of video is a good one : you could even extend it to
interactive ones. A web app acting as an installation simulator/tutor
could ease the process greatly for new users, with no risk for their
system. They could at least, during that "training session",be guided to
gather the relevant data about their system and their configuration
choices before doing the installation itself.
IMHO separation of educationnal material from software interface make
both better :
- the educational material can be as verbose as necessary, adaptable to
different kind of users.
- the installer interface can do its job properly : provide accurate and
effective data exchange between the user and the installer.
Sorry for the long rant..;) I saw too many interfaces dumbed down to the
point of being useless to everyone, newbies included.
Cheers.
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