On 06/17/2011 02:26 PM, Kevin Kofler wrote:
Adam Williamson wrote:
> This is a common misapprehension, but it's not true. The reason for the
> large icon grid is actually that the developers did real world user
> research (yes, really!) and found that many people had significant
> trouble navigating the typical Windows / GNOME 2 nested menu system full
> of wide-but-short entries. They would lose levels in the nesting by
> moving the mouse a bit wrong. They would launch the wrong thing because
> the target area was too short. This was especially pronounced with poor
> pointing devices - particularly cheap trackpads on cheap laptops.
>
> The Giant Grid O' Icons is navigable with a much higher success rate.
There are less radical solutions for these problems though, see e.g. KDE's
Kickoff menu. (But I can't get used even to that, I use the classic menu
which KDE Plasma also offers.)
I wonder why you recommend solutions you can't even get used to. In
terms of usability, it is not clear to me kickoff is doing a better job
at all. It is a rather convoluted way of organizing menu items and I
had to switch it off and use the classic menu instead. I have used both
and I found the GNOME 3 menu interface more familiar and less radical in
fact.
Rahul