GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 638271
drop categories
Last modified: 2013-02-20 10:41:26 UTC
We don't want to use categorization in the app view. I'm not exactly sure when it showed up again. For a while we had a subtle distinction between apps, games, and utilities. That was much better. Piling everything into an alphabetical all view or having to manually file through categories that make no sense and haven't been created by me isn't so hot. See http://www.simson.net/ref/1988/Lansdale88.pdf for discussion of some of the problems of this type of categorization.
from the gnome-shell-design git logs: commit 738e14145d25b07f819903085e1fb69ea6be4973 Author: Jakub Steiner <jimmac@gmail.com> Date: Tue Dec 21 22:12:55 2010 +0100 Drop the fixed group filter for app picker completely. - After discussing with mccann, we decided to drop the category filter completely. Unless it's So, when: commit 4fd24da4e4d61eabda496a9db4e3b5bfb7d8d600 Author: Maxim Ermilov <zaspire@rambler.ru> Date: Sat Dec 18 22:18:10 2010 +0300 app-display: Implement filtering applications by category Add a list of filters to the application view of the view selector, as in the latest mockups https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=631537 was landed it was implementing a current design. Can you clarify whether you want no filters at all, or we'll eventually want non-category filters there like "Recently Used" ? If we want the soft categorization back, we need mockups showing how the rules should look - the old rules were quite ugly.
That document is very long, I didn't read it through, I but I did read it up to Classification, and I must say, sorry I but I strongly disagree, and I will oppose (as much as I can) any attempt to remove categories from the app view. Reasons: 1) The specific cited research does not apply here. It's talking about filed information (like documents), that are categorized by users, not about applications, that are categorized by developers/distributors. Applications categories are not meant for tidying the app view, fulfilling an aesthetic need for space in a crowded app view, but are meant for easer discover of known but not-so-frequently used applications. 2) The category view is not for searching new applications, the preferred way for that is searching. I agree that categories are fuzzy and confusable for some applications (Emacs is an example of an application which would fit every category), but for most applications the category is obvious (given an Internet category, would you search for Firefox inside System Tools or Development?). 3) Searching for known applications, on the other hand, is slow, both because you need to build and type a query, and because the search system is inherently slow. Also, unless you search for the exact app name (which can be difficult to write, like Rhythmbox or Epiphany), you may get more than one result, which means pointing, finding and clicking again. 4) The app view, in All apps mode, is useless for me. As you know as a developer, linear scanning is as long as the number of items to scan, and as you know as a psychologist, the ability to find something at the first glance stops when there are more than 10/12 elements (for trained people/frequent computer users; for other it can be even less) 5) Spatial memory does not apply to all app view, because the order changes when installing/removing/upgrading applications (or when changing LANG, or when tweaking stuff in .local/share/applications), and because you need to use an application very often to automatically remember where it was when you launched (app icons are not 128x128, so that "somewhere bottom-right" makes you search among one or two), in which case marking it favourite is probably appropriate 6) The categorization is configurable to meet the users need (we the technologies, the specifications and a graphical application for this). If these changes are not reflected in gnome-shell, then it is a bug. If the default categories are changed by the majority of people, then it is a bug. But this does not impact in any way categories as a feature. 7) If you as an individual don't like the categorization at all, you can just select "All" on the left. Summing up, I just hope that this bug will be closed as RESOLVED NOTABUG.
For me having these categories made usage a lot easier so I would also vote to close this as NOTABUG. However, some dynamic categories (Recently used, Recently installed, etc.) could be a nice addition.
Imagine having a lot of apps (50+) installed, then the whole overview would get really big and it would be hard finding the applications you want. I think your point is that you want to abolish categories because the dont always fit in (Evolution in Office or Internet?) but what about allowing users to add own categories instead so they can order the apps like the want them? That would be something like activities in kde. For instance i make a categorie work where i put in OOffice, Email and Editor and one called Programming with Editor, Glade, etc in it. Categories generally help you keeping order with lots of stuff around. Id vote for not dropping it. If you still want, please preserve an option to turn it back on.
The core problem I see it is that GNOME has historically shipped a lot of apps in the default install, because we had no application installation story. This means a lot of random names are in the list that honestly, you probably never use. I have Brasero installed, but this netbook doesn't even have a CD drive...
For example, on my single iOS device I don't have a problem with a generic grid (and no keyboard search even) because the default install just doesn't come with many apps. My Android device by contrast came with various crapware apps you can't even uninstall. Similarly, GNOME doesn't have an application *un*install story either.
(In reply to comment #6) > For example, on my single iOS device I don't have a problem with a generic grid > (and no keyboard search even) because the default install just doesn't come > with many apps. Yeah but I tend to make use of the category feature introduced in iOS 4 on my iPhone to not clutter stuff. (The difference here is that the category is entirely user created though) > My Android device by contrast came with various crapware apps you can't even > uninstall. Similarly, GNOME doesn't have an application *un*install story > either. Yeah the application installation situation just sucks.
The number of apps in a typical system is much lower than documents, so the cited article doesn't _totally_ apply to this particular area, where the strategies used are "overwhelmed by the sheer volume of papers around the office". The two main problems about categorization mentioned in the article are: 1) "categorizing items, both in terms of deciding which categorization to use, and in remembering later exactly what label was assigned to that categorization" 2) we remember far more about documents that can be used in retrieval procedures About 1) A basic categorization comes automatically when applications are installed. The current situation means that categorization is not perfect, but IMHO at least is good enough for reducing the area of search. The categorization we are talking here, the one shown in gnome shell, is more about tagging than pure categorization because we don't have any hierarchy into the categories. We can use the "category" assigned as a initial tag. I think tagging should flexible enough to be controlled by the user, like adding more than one tag to an application, change the label of a tag or remove tags. For me, the categories list in gnome shell should be closer to a tag cloud than a rigid category derived from a menu hierarchy. The psychological problems about categorization remains here, but giving an initial basic categorization, using a tag approach and taking into account that the amount of data is not high makes me feel the tradeoff is beneficial to the users. About 2) The alternative ways of remembering an app that come to my mind, besides of categories/tagging, that can be used for retrieving : a) having an idea of when it was used, b) remember a file that was produced or consumed with the app. c) how it looks like The point a) can be implemented for example with the most-recent-used list, maybe a zeitgeist approach. About b), the current search in gnome shell only let user open it with the default app, so you will only find the app if it's the default one. About c) I don't know if it helpful enough.
(In reply to comment #0) > We don't want to use categorization in the app view. I'm not exactly sure when > it showed up again. > > For a while we had a subtle distinction between apps, games, and utilities. > That was much better. Piling everything into an alphabetical all view or > having to manually file through categories that make no sense and haven't been > created by me isn't so hot. > > See http://www.simson.net/ref/1988/Lansdale88.pdf for discussion of some of the > problems of this type of categorization. So I read this, and it is relatively uncontroversial. Summary: "We propose spatial is better because categories are hard for our caveman brains. Anyway, we re-categorise stuff so your categories will probably suck" But the paper finishes with only speculation on what is most relevant here in the context of the applications story; Categories vs. keyword search. Do you have any more recent research addressing this in a more comprehensive way?
I would much prefer to keep the categories and expand that feature to allow users to define their own plus a 'smart category' listing Recently or Frequently Used apps...
I think the contol center's layout is a great example of categorization of apps. Maybe the app view should imitate it...
Why not replace the categorises system with a tag system like in Epiphany bookmark? Allow user to edit all tags and have dynamic tags (latest installed, etc) are good features too. With this, Evolution can be in Office _and_ in Internet.
(In reply to comment #12) > Why not replace the categorises system with a tag system like in Epiphany > bookmark? Allow user to edit all tags and have dynamic tags (latest installed, > etc) are good features too. With this, Evolution can be in Office _and_ in > Internet. Lansdale88 discusses tags a little. As I said, I still think the paper is being too broadly interpreted when search is promoted in the interface.
Why not drop the categories, but show all the apps sorted by frequence of use (minus the apps already in dash) ?
(In reply to comment #14) > show all the apps sorted by frequence of use That's probably covered by bug 661136.
Do not drop categories! The well sorted and flat GNOME menue was the key feature that made me using GNOME. Even if you don't exactly know how your desired application is called and how the icon looks like, you will find it. The GNOME menue was also the key feature for my wife to "allow" me to install GNOME on her netbook and on our living room PC. I don't like the idea to be forced to stick on Gnome 2 because of the absence of the categories. Especially for a Linux or even a PC novice, the categories have no replacement. The categories are moreover a wonderful bridge for all gnome-panel users to come to gnome-shell without changing their way to launch an application. ____ Now the details: Issue: In the current solution in gnome-shell 3.2 it is a long mouse way and about four klicks to launch an application via a categories. In gnome 2 it was a short way and two klicks. * I like the Idea to have a windows/Application toggle Button __ON TOP__ of the quick launch. * The category buttons should be moved to the right. Bug 662738 * The categories should be accessible without scrolling. I'm afraid the purposed system control panel style systems like josephk's proposal cannot achieve this. https://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=196800 Bug 659309 Maybe a "more" button per category helps.
(In reply to comment #14) > Why not drop the categories, but show all the apps sorted by frequence of use > (minus the apps already in dash) ? Almost :) The app picker has seen a redesign for 3.8, and now spots two different views: one showing the most frequently used, and another one showing all installed applications in alphabetical order (with some selected "categories" displayed as folders). In any case, the list of categories which this bug is about is dead, so closing. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 694192 ***
I also support keeping categories, NOTABUG, and reverting the mentioned commits. One use-case of categories which I came upon recently is finding an application that I knew I installed, but didn't know the name and didn't know the icon: I knew it was some sort of image editing app, and having categories saved me the headache of scrolling through the (6*17) applications I have installed. Keeping categories still allows for custom organization of apps; this can be done in the "All" category. If space for applications is the issue here I support moving around the category list. As an aside, discussions such as these highlight the need for usage statistics to see how disruptive/impactful removing features like these would be.
(In reply to comment #18) > I also support keeping categories, NOTABUG, and reverting the mentioned > commits. > > One use-case of categories which I came upon recently is finding an application > that I knew I installed, but didn't know the name and didn't know the icon: > I knew it was some sort of image editing app, and having categories saved me > the headache of scrolling through the (6*17) applications I have installed. Then you can simply search for "image" ... the search does not only match by name.
Hey Hashem, (In reply to comment #18) ... > One use-case of categories which I came upon recently is finding an application > that I knew I installed, but didn't know the name and didn't know the icon: > I knew it was some sort of image editing app, and having categories saved me > the headache of scrolling through the (6*17) applications I have installed. ... One thing that the new design does is reduce the number of items in the grid. Before we had every single item in the grid, which made it very difficult to find that one app that you were looking for. With the new design, the case that you describe above pretty much goes away thanks to the fact that we've cleared a lot of the uninteresting stuff that is installed by default out of the way. If you haven't already, try out master and see how it goes. I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts.