DSL Ideas and Suggestions :: icons look and feel



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This is a very important point, and a correct one in my opinion. I do think that it is not nearly as clicker-friendly in dfm as it is in windows explorer, though. In Windows if you click on a file that is not associated with an application you are presented with an "open with..." dialog (if I remember correctly).

Yes, that's correct. And you can easily change that via right-click "open with." One of the reasons I like rox over dfm is because it has a similar right-click re-associate option.

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In dfm it seems the user has to know what file to edit and the syntax of that file, so as with many other things the user must read and learn something in order to understand how to make it work exactly as the user wants it.

Doesn't dfm open non-associated file-types as text files in an editor (beaver) by default?  Maybe this can be remedied with dfm by launching the dfmext tool when unassociated file types are encountered if rc files can be excluded.

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This is in heavy contrast with Windows, where the user does not have much choice in how the desktop behaves.

I think Windows' behavior is as configurable as Linux'. My XP desktop is very OSX-like right now, down to a functional animated dock. (Screenshot is tinted with an overlay of enlarged text germane to something I posted against FSF/Busybox lawyers.)
http://lucky13linux.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/highgainupload.png

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The main point I'm trying to make is that we're talking about Linux, which holds at least two very important traits that are often ignored by those coming from Windows:
Linux is not Windows.
If you don't like something you can change it.

I touched a little on this subject in a blog entry last night, but from the standpoint that familiarity with common interface concepts is what either hinders or enables migration from one OS to another.

I don't think what's under the hood really matters to users so much as whether they can manipulate it via familiar concepts. The more novel it is to new users and the more of a learning curve they have, the less likely they'll bother. You can cover Linux with GUI tools that ease transition and break down the barriers because of familiarity with menus, buttons, icons, etc., and with features like file associations and dragging and dropping. There are also some "under the hood" things some (e.g., GoboLinux) have attempted to make Linux directory structures more familiar to those who are used to Windows. I have no problem with that because Linux is highly adaptable and it can be set up to suit a user's needs.

The greatest barrier to understanding Linux in general and DSL in particular isn't in the difference between it and Windows but rather the resistance to reading the available documentation. How many questions asked in the forums are answered in "Getting Started" or the wiki or elsewhere? I would suggest expanding "Getting Started" to include brief tutorials for more things but it seems like many people don't even bother reading it.
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Using low-color icons and no background image (only a color), improves performance on the smaller, less capable machines.  DSL is not only a small distro but its target machines include some of the smallest less capable ones.

I'm going to have more time this afternoon than I thought. I'm going to see if I can either clean up the icons you have or make some icons so they don't distort on different colored backgrounds. I think some of the current icons are in the 6kb range, and I'm sure we can reduce that and still have good-looking icons.
Quote (lucky13 @ Dec. 04 2007,11:30)
The greatest barrier to understanding Linux in general and DSL in particular isn't in the difference between it and Windows but rather the resistance to reading the available documentation. How many questions asked in the forums are answered in "Getting Started" or the wiki or elsewhere? I would suggest expanding "Getting Started" to include brief tutorials for more things but it seems like many people don't even bother reading it.

You make this point often, and I know that it is meant to be useful... but the Wiki is very sketchy (I have gone to it often).  I imagine that the "Getting Started" that you mention is the top section in the Wiki?:  http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Do I need to contact someone to have a page I've started get mentioned in the "Getting Started"?  I added it a few days ago, making sure to add [[Category:...]] to it, but it hasn't been picked up yet.  I just now changed it to [[Category:Getting Started]], although it has been [[Category:Documentation]] since the beginning.

The page is intended to help new Windows converts:  http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/DSL_Compared_to_MS_Windows
"Getting Started" refers to the document that opens in Dillo when DSL is booted and X starts.
Quote (lucky13 @ Dec. 04 2007,11:53)
"Getting Started" refers to the document that opens in Dillo when DSL is booted and X starts.

ok, yes I`ve read that one many times as well.

Can we post that document on the Wiki so that it can be read when not running the OS?
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original here.