If you are going to push MD as the primary Package manager, I would suggest the following as essential:
(1) There MUST be a fully populated tab marked : "HELP" !!!!!
(2) There should be an Exit button/tab.
(3) The buttons must lead to populated pages. I carried out an unscientific survey of the buttons in the top 2 levels and arrived at empty screens in about 50% of cases. This will not impart a feeling of confidence to the new user. As an experienced programmer and a teacher of GUI design at undergraduate and post-graduate level we know that such incompleteness underminds the confidence of most users, both newbies and old lags.
(4) I could not find links to most useful utilities, e.g. kgdb, gimp, gthumb, latex-live, ... *buntu gives you access to 40k+ packages; there is no facility for the punter to explore.
(5) Leaf buttons should be more informative: I note there is provision for explanatory text when the cursor enters a button. None of the notes seen by me tell anyone anything useful. For example:
Office->Sqledit says: "sqledit" -- how does that help anyone? You may well know what it does; I can make an intelligent guess; both of my university graduate daughters would say "you must be joking!"
On a matter of style: the main page is half populated with the software equivalent of a detergent advertisement. The space would be better used to welcome the user and a short guide as to how to get started: e.g. "Click on a button to see what is available".
A little knowledge is dangerous.
There is nobody more dangerous as someone who doesn't know what he doesn't know.
(1) There MUST be a fully populated tab marked : "HELP" !!!!!
(2) There should be an Exit button/tab.
(3) The buttons must lead to populated pages. I carried out an unscientific survey of the buttons in the top 2 levels and arrived at empty screens in about 50% of cases. This will not impart a feeling of confidence to the new user. As an experienced programmer and a teacher of GUI design at undergraduate and post-graduate level we know that such incompleteness underminds the confidence of most users, both newbies and old lags.
(4) I could not find links to most useful utilities, e.g. kgdb, gimp, gthumb, latex-live, ... *buntu gives you access to 40k+ packages; there is no facility for the punter to explore.
(5) Leaf buttons should be more informative: I note there is provision for explanatory text when the cursor enters a button. None of the notes seen by me tell anyone anything useful. For example:
Office->Sqledit says: "sqledit" -- how does that help anyone? You may well know what it does; I can make an intelligent guess; both of my university graduate daughters would say "you must be joking!"
On a matter of style: the main page is half populated with the software equivalent of a detergent advertisement. The space would be better used to welcome the user and a short guide as to how to get started: e.g. "Click on a button to see what is available".
A little knowledge is dangerous.
There is nobody more dangerous as someone who doesn't know what he doesn't know.
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