If by importance of UX you mean “your program should look and behave exactly like this other program made by a corpo, because I’ve learned that one already”.
In reality The Year Of The Linux might never arrive, it doesn’t have a multibillion corporation spending multi billions in order to make Linux a default software on every computer you buy. (to pedants: Android doesn’t count)
We’re talking about regular users having Linux as their operation system, not what happens under the hood of specialised machines. Steam machine user doesn’t run Linux, they run Steam.
Not necessarily, but humans are creatures of habit. If your app doesn’t follow existing patterns, you better have a good reason for it.
It is true however that UX research is pretty poor on Linux, outside of say Gnome, but I think Linux apps could also take notes from market leaders and see what works from them and why.
It’s not always just a spreadsheet comparison of features, it’s considering the UX for different screens and user journeys and comparing them to one another.
I disagree, they’ve got a consistent UX framework across the board, inputs are clear, navigation is the same across gdk apps. Is it consistent with other DEs? Not quite. But all gnome apps are easy to use, have pleasing UIs and generally share patterns that make it easy to see them as part of the same family even if an app is third party.
I agree on consistency. It does have vision and it is consistently implemented.
It has different problems. It doesn’t play well with apps written not for it, it doesn’t allow for a good deal of customisation, and full of bugs and questionable decisions. All the UI stuff is subjective, but bugs and unresponsiveness isn’t.
Eh can’t really blame it for not being more open I think to customisation, it is an issue but not really a UX one I think. Any UI could be faulted for that then, not being customisable enough. As for apps not written for it again, not something they have control over. Could say the same about any DE, or even Mac or windows when they use non standard blocks
What else could it be if not UX. Not being able to setup a shortcut for the keyboard layout change without a bunch of bullshit hoops is an eXperience I have as a User.
Any UI could be faulted for that then
Yes, it’s a metric by which we measure the experience. Sometimes things should and could be easily customisable, and if they aren’t, it’s a fault of the UI.
As for apps not written for it again, not something they have control over
If they’re making a window manager, they need to consider apps that user might run with this window manager. If for example a browser doesn’t render half of the internet correctly because they added an unexpected rendering conventions, it’s a shit browser. Same could be said about desktop environment.
Other DE expected to run apps, Gnome expects that you write your app with Gnome in mind, that’s a big difference.
The year of of the Linux happened long ago. However we fail to recognize it, because wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. Most super computer is TOP500 as well as servers and majority of portable devices in the world are powered by the Linux kernel.
If the definition of Year of Linux was based on having astonishing UX then, this is probably something that will never happen.
That’s what I mean. You used photoshop professionally, you are used to its interface, you want everything to have the same interface so you don’t have to learn a new one. It’s normal, we all are like that. The problems start when you try to hide it behind words like “intuitive”, “industry standart”, and “good for everyone”
But that’s like you know, your opinion, man.
What Photoshop is, is a more feature-full app, that’s fore sure, but all the claims of it being better at workflow only come from people who learned it already. It might be true, but it also could be Stockholm syndrome, there is no way to evaluate that, really. 20 years ago I was shit at coding, now I can do in an hour what I was able to do in a month back then. That’s because C++ perfected its workflow, and for no other reasons.
I am not a graphical guy, I only use Gimp for a number of limited uses, but I used it a lot for that, and I’m very efficient in what I do with it. If I open Photoshop, it will take me 20 times more time to do the same. But I know for a fact it’s not because of some inherent beterness of one over the other.
I guessed that, and that was the point of my comment. It’s impossible to tell, do you and your fellow professionals like it better, or did you just got used to it so much and don’t want to learn a new one. It’s not impossible to imagine - because it happens frequently - that there is an app with measurably better UI, that people don’t want to adopt. I’m not saying Gimp is that, personally I think all of them are terrible, all in their own unique way, and I don’t know if it’s possible to make a good one for this application.
When I worked as a sysadmin, I saw this happening all the fucking time. Hundreds of people prefer doing something in 50 clicks instead of using a new app that allows doing the same in 10, because previous way is ingrained in their muscle memory, and they absolutely, positively convinced that the old way is strictly unmistakably better, and they would fight me with deadly force so they could retain their old ways.
After that, I really don’t believe in people’s objectivity when it comes to that. I don’t think people can tell what is “better UI”.
Downplaying the importance of UX is one of the reasons the year of the Linux desktop still has not arrived.
If by importance of UX you mean “your program should look and behave exactly like this other program made by a corpo, because I’ve learned that one already”.
In reality The Year Of The Linux might never arrive, it doesn’t have a multibillion corporation spending multi billions in order to make Linux a default software on every computer you buy. (to pedants: Android doesn’t count)
Valve sells all of its computers with Linux on it, no?
They don’t sell all-purpose computers, they sell gaming systems that run Linux underneath. The regular user never has to interact with the OS
They also don’t sell that many of them.
Some quick googling says that Valve has sold nearly 4 million decks, which is pretty good.
Lenovo sold ~62 million computers last year alone. And they only make up ~1/4 of global market share
I guess all valve has to do is release steam machines again and then what? Suddenly the year of the Linux desktop isn’t here?
We’re talking about regular users having Linux as their operation system, not what happens under the hood of specialised machines. Steam machine user doesn’t run Linux, they run Steam.
Ah you’re right, it just cannot happen with a steam machine.
Not necessarily, but humans are creatures of habit. If your app doesn’t follow existing patterns, you better have a good reason for it.
It is true however that UX research is pretty poor on Linux, outside of say Gnome, but I think Linux apps could also take notes from market leaders and see what works from them and why.
It’s not always just a spreadsheet comparison of features, it’s considering the UX for different screens and user journeys and comparing them to one another.
You kidding me? Gnome has the worst UX of them all. The UI is kind of OK, but the UX is fucked beyound repair.
I disagree, they’ve got a consistent UX framework across the board, inputs are clear, navigation is the same across gdk apps. Is it consistent with other DEs? Not quite. But all gnome apps are easy to use, have pleasing UIs and generally share patterns that make it easy to see them as part of the same family even if an app is third party.
I agree on consistency. It does have vision and it is consistently implemented.
It has different problems. It doesn’t play well with apps written not for it, it doesn’t allow for a good deal of customisation, and full of bugs and questionable decisions. All the UI stuff is subjective, but bugs and unresponsiveness isn’t.
Eh can’t really blame it for not being more open I think to customisation, it is an issue but not really a UX one I think. Any UI could be faulted for that then, not being customisable enough. As for apps not written for it again, not something they have control over. Could say the same about any DE, or even Mac or windows when they use non standard blocks
What else could it be if not UX. Not being able to setup a shortcut for the keyboard layout change without a bunch of bullshit hoops is an eXperience I have as a User.
Yes, it’s a metric by which we measure the experience. Sometimes things should and could be easily customisable, and if they aren’t, it’s a fault of the UI.
If they’re making a window manager, they need to consider apps that user might run with this window manager. If for example a browser doesn’t render half of the internet correctly because they added an unexpected rendering conventions, it’s a shit browser. Same could be said about desktop environment.
Other DE expected to run apps, Gnome expects that you write your app with Gnome in mind, that’s a big difference.
The year of of the Linux happened long ago. However we fail to recognize it, because wasn’t exactly what we were expecting. Most super computer is TOP500 as well as servers and majority of portable devices in the world are powered by the Linux kernel.
If the definition of Year of Linux was based on having astonishing UX then, this is probably something that will never happen.
We’re talking about home computers, regular users running their personal OS.
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That’s what I mean. You used photoshop professionally, you are used to its interface, you want everything to have the same interface so you don’t have to learn a new one. It’s normal, we all are like that. The problems start when you try to hide it behind words like “intuitive”, “industry standart”, and “good for everyone”
Yep. I use Gimp, digiKam and Darktable for literally decades now. I am utterly lost on Adobe software.
deleted by creator
But that’s like you know, your opinion, man.
What Photoshop is, is a more feature-full app, that’s fore sure, but all the claims of it being better at workflow only come from people who learned it already. It might be true, but it also could be Stockholm syndrome, there is no way to evaluate that, really. 20 years ago I was shit at coding, now I can do in an hour what I was able to do in a month back then. That’s because C++ perfected its workflow, and for no other reasons.
I am not a graphical guy, I only use Gimp for a number of limited uses, but I used it a lot for that, and I’m very efficient in what I do with it. If I open Photoshop, it will take me 20 times more time to do the same. But I know for a fact it’s not because of some inherent beterness of one over the other.
deleted by creator
I guessed that, and that was the point of my comment. It’s impossible to tell, do you and your fellow professionals like it better, or did you just got used to it so much and don’t want to learn a new one. It’s not impossible to imagine - because it happens frequently - that there is an app with measurably better UI, that people don’t want to adopt. I’m not saying Gimp is that, personally I think all of them are terrible, all in their own unique way, and I don’t know if it’s possible to make a good one for this application.
When I worked as a sysadmin, I saw this happening all the fucking time. Hundreds of people prefer doing something in 50 clicks instead of using a new app that allows doing the same in 10, because previous way is ingrained in their muscle memory, and they absolutely, positively convinced that the old way is strictly unmistakably better, and they would fight me with deadly force so they could retain their old ways.
After that, I really don’t believe in people’s objectivity when it comes to that. I don’t think people can tell what is “better UI”.
deleted by creator
I’m sure having all computers in existence come by default with window and offering free stuff to students has nothing to do with it.
/s
Naaah, it’s just companies like Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft shitting on Linux users each time they can.