None of the slides in Ubiquity give ANY info on how to actually USE Unity

[Jeff Lane ]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

I'm doing a desktop install test of Natty and was looking through the slide show and I realized that there is not a single slide warning users that they're about to be faced with a desktop system that no one has ever really used before.

Unity on netbooks doesn't really count as I think this impacts a far greater number of first time users and will make for a rather unpleasant experience.

Honestly, I've been using Ubuntu for years and even I have a hard time using Unity. I can't even being to imagine what a new user or unseasoned user will think when presented with Unity for the first time with no warning or introduction.

There really should be at least 3 or 4 slides introducing Unity and giving basic usage instructions. At least enough to get the users going once they finish installing and realise that they no longer have the menu structure and UI format that they are most likely used to.

Any chance we can get some extra slides in there?

[Dylan McCall (dylanmccall)]

Thanks for brining this up, Jeff.

I'm targeting this to a little later in the cycle when we have a good picture what people will need to know. I'm a little opposed to a whole set of dedicated “how to use Unity” slides mainly because we should expect the interface to explain itself. If the slideshow has to explain it, we've already failed every user who doesn't look at the slideshow. Certainly, it should be brought up in a few places and we should make sure everything in here makes sense both with Unity and without Unity, but I always worry about creating a tone of “this system is complicated; read the manual or you're doomed!”

That said, I'm happy to be surprised! A single Unity slide could be quite nice. If we add a Unity slide, we should probably nix something else to save space. (These things are actually pretty expensive when we account for all the translations). I was thinking of revising it, but the Firefox one feels totally useless right now and it doesn't feel like there's much room for it to grow. It might be a good candidate.

I think this would be a little different from the other slides, since to be particularly helpful we'll want to reference places in a screenshot from text that will be translated. If there is a really il8n-safe way to do that (numbered dots?), we're in luck! Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to introduce some terminology and stuff that will be talked about in more detail later.

We may be able to add subtle cues to the existing stuff, and the first slide should certainly bring Unity up as the big new thing. (With a nice screenshot as well…). I think it would be perfect if we could link to another resource that really delves into what Unity is about, like unity.ubuntu.com for end users. There are lots of hidden treats that would be perfect for an engaging series of ten second video tutorials, and we certainly don't have room for them in the slideshow (and neither do most people!) :)

I'd love to chat about this. Right here is fine. Hopefully the Launchpad people will forgive me.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

On 02/26/2011 02:34 AM, Dylan McCall wrote:
> Thanks for brining this up, Jeff.
>
> I'm targeting this to a little later in the cycle when we have a good
> picture what people will need to know. I'm a little opposed to a whole
> set of dedicated “how to use Unity” slides mainly because we should
> expect the interface to explain itself. If the slideshow has to explain
> it, we've already failed every user who doesn't look at the slideshow.
> Certainly, it should be brought up in a few places and we should make
> sure everything in here makes sense both with Unity and without Unity,
> but I always worry about creating a tone of “this system is complicated;
> read the manual or you're doomed!”

That's a good point, and re-reading my original report, that is a bit
what it sounds like, no? But, my concern is that we probably DO have to
explain it. People who are not familiar with computers, I think, will
have less of a time with Unity than someone like me, for example, who
has been using computers since the old days, and has used the standard
Windows style environment since 1995 (earlier actually with Win3.1).

Even in my case, I sometimes use "non-standard" environments like
busybox, or back in the day I was a huge fan of WindowMaker, but for the
most part, 99% of all Linux desktops look similar to Windows desktops,
if you really think about it... taskbar at top or bottom, "Start" menu
and maybe other menu items... some sort of notification area in one
corner... and Unity blows all that out of the water.

To be honest, I even have trouble with OSX's desktop because I am so
accustomed to having a certain type of structure to the desktop.

BUT don't think that means I don't want Unity to be there. I'm actually
rather excited to see how well it's going to turn out, and I'm hoping
that the world will embrace it. I'm just concerned that the core of our
user base will have a hard time with it, and less than experienced users
may well have a hard time if they go from say, Maverick being their
first Linux to Natty and immediately having to learn a new desktop
environment.

> That said, I'm happy to be surprised! A single Unity slide could be
> quite nice. If we add a Unity slide, we should probably nix something
> else to save space. (These things are actually pretty expensive when we
> account for all the translations). I was thinking of revising it, but
> the Firefox one feels totally useless right now and it doesn't feel like
> there's much room for it to grow. It might be a good candidate.

That would be fine with me... just "something" that lets users know
"Hey, in case you don't follow slashdot, OMGUbuntu, LWN and the rest of
the F/OSS jounalistic world, there's a good chance you'll be seeing
Unity, an entirely new way of looking at the desktop. It's the bees
knees and it ain't yer daddy's desktop environment"

heh... for a moment, I pictured the little girl in Jurassic Park with
the SGI 3D Filesystem "This is UNIX! I know this!" heh...

> I think this would be a little different from the other slides, since to
> be particularly helpful we'll want to reference places in a screenshot
> from text that will be translated. If...

[Dylan McCall (dylanmccall)]

Whoa, this was a month ago?! :o
I pondered doing this myself before UIF, but I wasn't really feeling it. I'm going to start a discussion on the appropriate mailing list for this. It should just be a few new — and short — strings, so I don't think it will harm the translations if we get something by the 31st.

I added some CSS rules for slides to have full-width images, though that isn't used anywhere yet. This way we can have an image that is strongly associated with a slide's text, which would be particularly useful for numbered callouts in the Unity slide. (I'm picturing something that points out the menu bar, launcher and Ubuntu button).

[Adolfo Jayme Barrientos (fitojb)]

It’s a shame this never got addressed when Unity was still relevant.

[Jeff Lane  (bladernr)]

Indeed... the real shame is that Unity was stopped... it was by far
the best DE I've used over the years (except for maybe old-school
WindowMaker back in the day).

On Sun, Aug 8, 2021 at 3:05 AM Adolfo Jayme <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> It’s a shame this never got addressed when Unity was still relevant.
>
> ** Changed in: ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu (Ubuntu)
> Status: Triaged => Won't Fix
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/705187
>
> Title:
> None of the slides in Ubiquity give ANY info on how to actually USE
> Unity
>
> Status in ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu package in Ubuntu:
> Won't Fix
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: ubiquity
>
> I'm doing a desktop install test of Natty and was looking through the
> slide show and I realized that there is not a single slide warning
> users that they're about to be faced with a desktop system that no one
> has ever really used before.
>
> Unity on netbooks doesn't really count as I think this impacts a far
> greater number of first time users and will make for a rather
> unpleasant experience.
>
> Honestly, I've been using Ubuntu for years and even I have a hard time
> using Unity. I can't even being to imagine what a new user or
> unseasoned user will think when presented with Unity for the first
> time with no warning or introduction.
>
> There really should be at least 3 or 4 slides introducing Unity and
> giving basic usage instructions. At least enough to get the users
> going once they finish installing and realise that they no longer have
> the menu structure and UI format that they are most likely used to.
>
> Any chance we can get some extra slides in there?
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/+bug/705187/+subscriptions
>
> Launchpad-Notification-Type: bug
> Launchpad-Bug: distribution=ubuntu; sourcepackage=ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu; component=main; status=Won't Fix; importance=Undecided; assignee=None;
> Launchpad-Bug-Information-Type: Public
> Launchpad-Bug-Private: no
> Launchpad-Bug-Security-Vulnerability: no
> Launchpad-Bug-Commenters: bladernr dylanmccall fitojb
> Launchpad-Bug-Reporter: Jeff Lane (bladernr)
> Launchpad-Bug-Modifier: Adolfo Jayme (fitojb)
> Launchpad-Message-Rationale: Subscriber
> Launchpad-Message-For: bladernr
>

--
Jeff Lane
Engineering Manager
IHV/OEM Alliances and Server Certification

"Entropy isn't what it used to be."