Thursday, May 3, 2012

Computer User Interface trust.


I was creating a directory structure in Dolphin, so I typed in  bar/bux/baz  in the create folder dialog.  I expected an error, or a path to be created.   Instead, it converted "/" to a look alike, that I cannot simply type in the terminal.    I feel violated.

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=299086

Why is this such a violation?
I expect the computer to do what I tell it to do, and check for sanity. If it can't do what I asked it to do, I need it to ask me a question, or at least tell me what it plans to do.

Our computers should not take the names of files in Save-As dialog boxes. I have overwritten a file that took me hours to make because some ass hat decided to make a mouse-over take a filename, and the default action for the confirmation dialog box was yes.  (we got that one fixed)

Files on removable media should not be put into trash automatically,   This leaves the drive full, with no obvious way to clear it.  Instead, something less than trash would be a good solution.
Queue to items to be deleted...  and don't move the files to another folder until the queue is acted upon.  This list should at least use tiemstamps, and the deletion program should check lsof to verify the file is safe to delete.



I understand that training and experience has a lot to do with what people expect computers.  What are some things that we have been trained to do, that are a bit messed up?

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