How Configurable Should a Desktop User Interface be?

The Original Yama writes "In the world of user interface design there are two main schools of thought. The former maintains that the environment must be flexible and configurable enough to adjust to a user's needs. The latter takes the opposite perspective, arguing that many of today's user interfaces have become bloated and overloaded with features, and consequently have become difficult to maintain and use. KDE developer Mosfet shows how the KDE Project has managed to bridge the gap between the 'highly configurable' and 'less is more' camps."

Comments

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[Anonymous Coward]

Hey people, please do not forget to read Havoc's article about just that!!

http://www106.pair.com/rhp/free-software-ui.html

In fact, this news submission doesn't even include the rebuttal written by Mosfet two days ago, answering to Havoc Pennington's article, as linked above.

Re:Average User

[random_static]

I think one of Linux' weak points is that it doesn't offer any real *alternative* when it comes to the GUI. I think Linux needs some sort of wildly different GUI, perhaps not even based on the WIMP metaphore.

has it been so long already, that the Great X11 Window Manager Chaos is beginning to be forgotten?

say, here's a beginner's guide sort of site for you. for the really exotic, not-even-WIMP-based ideas you'd really need a completely redesigned and rewritten application suite, which would take some little time to create, but a few of the more... exotic... WM's already out there might be good starting points. TreeWM, maybe Ion, maybe PWM, perhaps 3Dwm. or just go googling for "window manager", see how long that'll keep you busy...

maybe it's a sign of getting old, when you can clearly remember the days of "unix has too many GUIs!" and seeing the good point that was therein made.

Re:Keep it simple stupid

[namelessone99]

The primary goal all OS vendors...

Keep in mind that an Operating System is NOT a GUI.

Oh, you mean...

[devphil]

...like what KDE offers a user on their first login?

The main control is a slider bar, with "very little eye candy" on one end, and "way too much eye candy" on the other. The drop-down "advanced" controls allow individual checkboxes for particular candy features; the slider just turns them on and off in groups.