Console frontend controls are non-obvious

[James Tatum]

Binary package hint: debconf

Walking a new Ubuntu Server user through installing some packages. Tab and enter, while not great, were not an issue for navigating boxes. Neither was the arrow keys. But while installing a package, a box was presented like:

Please select what to configure:
[ ] Choice1
[ ] Choice2

The user thought that highlighting an item in red meant that they were selecting the item. I hinted that the box should have a * in it. The user pressed *, x, +, and several other things before picking space.

Tab, space, enter, and the arrow keys all work the way they do in GUIs, but this whole setup assumes that you have some knowledge of these keyboard shortcuts. I suspect that the right solution is multi-faceted: documentation in the server guide, <F1> for help, changing the highlighting somehow? This user might have been less confused by:

Please select what to configure: (0 selected)

Where 0 selected changes to 1 or 2 depending on how many options are chosen. A way to get help on the interface is probably needed as well.