[Mageia-discuss] Suggestions

[George J. Walsh]

On Wed, 2010-10-27 at 00:16 +0200, Wolfgang Bornath wrote:
> 2010/10/26 George J. Walsh <gjwalsh at dscvcp.org>:
> > On Tue, 2010-10-26 at 10:30 -0400, Marc Paré wrote:
> >> Le 2010-10-26 10:23, Dale Huckeby a écrit :
> >> > On Tue, 26 Oct 2010, Kira wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> 在 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:22:08 +0800, Frank Griffin
> >> >> <ftg at roadrunner.com>寫道:
> >> >>> The correct way to do this is not a drop-down allowing a single choice.
> >> >>> It's a set of toggles for things like "hide background library
> >> >>> packages", "hide language-specific packages for uninstalled languages",
> >> >>> and so forth, with these things initially checked by default. You could
> >> >>> even have a "hide non-graphical packages" toggle - just don't have it
> >> >>> checked by default. Also, give the toggles their own menubar entry,
> >> >>> e.g. "View".
> >> >>>
> >> >> I second this idea.
> >> >
> >> > I third it.
> >> >
> >> > Dale Huckeby
> >>
> >> Sounds good to me too!
> >>
> >> I fourth it.
> >>
> >> Marc
> >
> > One word of support comes to mind for this one:
> >
> > Essential
> 
> The problem is:
> If you hide too much ("Programs with GUI") the forums are crowded with
> threads like
>  - "Install foo from the MCC"
>  - "I can't find it in the software management"
>  - "Did you set your media?"
>  - "Yes, foo is not there."
>  - "Did you change view to 'All'?"
>  - "Ah! Now I see it - very confusing!"
> There were times when such postings were more than 10 per month!
> 
> If you hide too few like "All" the unexperienced user is confused. He
> will be surely confused by a list of options he hasn't any clue what
> they mean.
> 
> A solution could be to
> 1. hide everything but the application packages (no matter if GUI or CLI)
> 2. Insert such a list of options but give it an "expert" tag.
> 3. The most important: make a search result visible also if the result
> is something which would be hidden otherwise.
> 
> Example:
> gstreamer-plugin-devel (don't care about the name) would be hidden in
> standard view. But if the user writes "gstreamer" into the search
> field it shouold be displayed in the search result view.
> 
> This way we could even keep the current order with "programs with gui"
> as default. When the user no searches for 'mc' he will see it in the
> list of search results, although 'mc' would not be displayed in
> "Programs with GUI" view.
> 
> Does anybody understand what I wrote? Can't explain it in better words. :)

Yes, appreciate what your are suggesting.

I have, over the years, developed a detailed 40 page configuration guide
which is amended with each 'stable' release, although I have worked in
the cooker environment for some 9 years now. We start with 'custom',
make very minimal changes in the selection list, make GNOME the desktop
and go on from there ....

Once the system is up and running, we have a detailed list of packages
to be installed via urpmi to meet our own requirements. 

Frankly, I value highly the need for the search utility continuing to
search for everything all the time. This is how I began to appreciate
just how much was 'under the hood'. I do not use the gui groupings to
select packages after the initial install, because I find it repetitive
and time consuming, not to mention incomplete. That is NOT to say I
don't think it serves any purpose, it just doesn't for me. 

I don't think we need add extra labels to what we have - even the much
derided 'newbie' knows what a search is, and the power of that search is
an eye-opener for most folks. It invites the curious to learn which is a
great outcome, no?

George