Groklaw Tries Their Own Linux Usability Study

inode_buddha writes "There's a new project taking shape at Groklaw. Calling it Grok-docs, it aims to do what many of us have long whined about - a large-scale linux usability study. Evidently, PJ had some frustrations with linux, and is asking for suggestions. So far, it seems to be following a Wiki-style setup. Everybody is welcome, especially those with little or no linux experience. I hope the distros and vendors are watching this one!"

Comments

Re:EASIER SETUP!

[CrankyFool]

That crack you're on is really, really good. Where can I get one?

I've been managing UNIX systems for about fourteen years now, with a focus on Solaris. I've installed my share of W95/W98/W2K/WXP systems. I've pretty much always had an install that ended up being what I expected it to be. I have read *no* documentation on how to install Windows. Ever. I'm pretty sure that I've never even watched someone install Windows.

I've installed Linux a few times. I had to tell it what serial mouse I was using and what video card I was using. I had to figure out how to apportion swap. Mind you, figuring out what swap was was easy for me coming from the UNIX world, but for the average person? And the tool to repartition the filesystem was ... well, less intuitive than Windows. We'll leave it at that.

Look, Windows is the scourge of humanity, there's no disagreement there. But claiming it's as easy to install Linux as it is to install Windows? That way lies insanity.

The Clipboard

[Dlugar]

Everyone knows the clipboard in Linux has some problems. But few know exactly how deep these problems go.

In my opinion, there should be two separate clipboards, which I refer to as the "Tempboard" and the "Permboard" for clarity. Yes, I hear many of you saying--this is the way it's implemented. Well, yes--partially. Let me first explain The Right Way to Do It, followed by applications that break the rules.

The Right Way to Do It:

On Selection:
* Send selected-stuff to Tempboard
On Shift-Ins or Middle-Click:
* Paste contents of Tempboard
On Deselection:
1) Leave the Tempboard as is
or 2) Clear the Tempboard

On CTRL-C/CTRL-X:
* Send most recently selected stuff from active window to Permboard.
On CTRL-V:
* Paste contents of Permboard

(I'm using Eterm 0.9.2, Gaim 0.75, and Opera 7.23 on a Fedora box. Please let me know if these errors don't happen on other versions or other distros.)

1. Select some text in a Gaim window, then close that window and attempt to middle-click paste it into another program. No pastage.
   Problem: The Tempboard gets deleted when the window is closed.
2. In Gaim, select some text in the textbox and then attempt to middle-click pa ste it to the same text box. No pastage.
   Problem: The Tempboard gets deleted when you middle-click inside the same text input widget.
3. Highlight some text in Opera. Then unselect it. Try to middle-click paste it somewhere. It works!
   Problem: Opera uses "fake selects" in order to work around the clumsy situation of not being able to highlight multiple things at the same time. Firefox does is that well, and so does OpenOffice.org. As we shall see, they don't always get it right.
4. Highlight some text in Opera. Unselect it. Highlight something in another window and close that window. Try to middle-click paste--you get the old fake Opera-select.
   Problem: The Tempboard reverts to Opera's old fake-select when the window is closed.
5. Highlight something in an Opera textbox. Middle-click it to the url box. It works. Highlight something using the keyboard. Middle-click it to the url box. It pastes instead your old highlight.
   Problem: Highlighting with the keyboard doesn't update the Tempboard.
6. In the Gaim textbox, type "Text1". Select the text and CTRL-X it. Type "Text2" in the textbox. From another window, select "Text3".
   Go back to Gaim, select "Text2", and type Shift-Ins. "Text1" is pasted.
   Problem: Shift-Ins pastes from the Permboard, not Tempboard.
7. CTRL-X "Text1" in Gaim again. Select text from Eterm. Shift-Ins in the terminal window. Shift-ins in Gaim. Different things are pasted to each window!
   Problem: Shift-ins pastes from the Tempboard in Eterm, but pastes from the Permboard in the Gaim window.
8. CTRL-C text in Gaim's chat screen, and try CTRL-V to paste it into the textbox below. It instead pastes what was previously in the Permboard.
   Problem: Selecting chat text and CTRL-C doesn't update the Permboard.

Does anybody else have ones they'd like to add to my list?

Dlugar