[Mageia-dev] freedesktop spec and categories

Anssi Hannula anssi.hannula at iki.fi
Thu Feb 24 23:09:37 CET 2011


On 24.02.2011 21:15, Michael Scherer wrote:
> Le jeudi 24 février 2011 à 20:30 +0200, Anssi Hannula a écrit :
>> On 24.02.2011 18:57, Tux99 wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Quote: Michael Scherer wrote on Thu, 24 February 2011 13:27
>>>>
>>>> Le jeudi 24 février 2011 à 10:06 +0100, Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't think so. Several Mandriva releases ago, there was no such
>>>>> "More" 
>>>>> entry, but real sub-categories in the menu. Then it changed for
>>>>> what we have 
>>>>> now, but that wasn't a change in the .desktop files, rather a menu
>>>>>
>>>>> configuration. I guess that was a decision meant to bring
>>>>> "simplicity",
>>>>
>>>> Yes, and that's a choice that can be backed by several studies on the
>>>> subject, the working memory have been estimated to be 7 chunks of
>>>> information ( between 5 and 9 is a wildly accepted range ). I remember
>>>> having seen a studie saying that it was less than this, but I cannot
>>>> find it ( and it was on slashdot, so this may have been wrong ).
>>>>
>>>> So presenting only ~7 chunks of information ( ie ~7 items in menu ) is
>>>> better according to the current cognitive model used, such as this one
>>>> :
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_information_processor_model 
>>
>> Eh, isn't that a reason to switch *back* to the two-level system, not to
>> keep the current system?
> 
> I do not think so. What chunk of informations do you take in account ?

No chunks, just items in menu.

>> I have about 15-30 entries in everyone of Internet, Office, Audio/Video,
>> Tools, Tools->System submenus.
> 
> By submenu, you mean the "more" submenu ? I fail to understand what do
> you have exactly, can you provides a screenshot ?

No, I mean menu entries directly under those menus.
http://onse.fi/files/kuvat/menu1.png
http://onse.fi/files/kuvat/menu2.png

IMHO too many entries there. With two levels I think at least the number
of entries/submenus directly under the Internet menu would be
significantly reduced.

>> With a two-level system it would be considerably less and closer to the
>> ~7 you mention.
> 
> Depend, what is the process that you are wanting to improve ?
> ( and closer is not good enough, even if 15 is nearer to 7 than 20,
> that's still too much and a different process is used ( according to
> studies ))

No idea. IMO finding the wanted application is faster when it goes
Internet => 5-7 submenus => each with 2-5 app entries
instead of the current
Internet => 20 app entries, plus 10 more in "More"

-- 
Anssi Hannula


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