[ge-talk] Feedback on R2 Deskbar Mockup

[Ari]

Now let's go back to the design. i think there is going to be too much 
confusion if links start switching and changing. For example, let's say 
I have 5 links abcde and I click on b and d. It now turns into aceBD, 
right? or aBcDe?

But I think the first question we should ask is, why do we need links on 
the deskbar...don't we have a desktop for icons?

And I think the answer is "well desktops are so full of clutter so i 
need to get to at least something fast"

I know using XP the whole place is a mess but this is also true with at 
least my limited (sorry!) experience under BeOS. Windows Explorer is 
pretty much useless. Apps are just thrown in under programs.
Win 95 came up with an abstraction called the start menu. So I don't 
have to deal with browsing through dlls and other bits and pieces of 
apps. This is a good first step. Easier than drilling through my hard 
drive for solitaire.exe I don't think BeOS had this...but even still you 
should see my start menu>All Programs. 2 and 1/2 columns!

Then there are all these icons on my desktop. How do I get to anything 
quickly?

That's really the problem that a lot of people face after using their PC 
for awhile. So how would I solve it? I don't think the average user will 
use search that often with fancy queries. That's a power user tool. But 
the average user should be able to find apps quickly with a mouse.

So to respond to
http://haiku-os.org/node/9
i want tagging but I also want directories for easy mouse browsing!

(also I hate app installation. File managers are pretty much useless 
because you need to go to "add or remove programs" in control panel in 
order to really delete anything properly)

Apps should "know" what they are with tags. A game should identify 
itself to the OS as a game. When you get that game, it should 
automatically go into programs/games. Video apps into programs/video, 
etc. (I think there should be a standard list but not totally sure if 
the bebits toplevel is ideal. I'd add education and merge geek toys with 
utilities)

That should be the case with both the file system and the "start" menu
What about the desktop? I think we should have a tab bar. here's a pic 
of what i mean:

http://www.stardock.com/products/odnt/tlp.asp

One tab should be 'quick" and you can put anything you want there. The 
other tabs would collect the most frequently used apps in all the 
standard categories you have such as games, video, graphics, etc. In 
that picture there are 6 tabs with 6 icons: 36 apps in that compact space.
And after you click on anything, the bar would revert itself to the 
Quick tab -those are the apps/docs that *you* chose for instant access.

Hierarchies are important. Instead of wading through "everything" i 
would have an automatically organized system.