Written by Warlon the 3 Mar 08 at 06:41.
Category: System.
Related project:
Nothing/Others.
Status: New
Rationale
Add an "uninstall this application" option to the context menu when right clicking some applications icon in the applications menu. This would then open a "These packages will be uninstalled" -dialog.
surpasses the Add/Remove function. Ubuntu is great because the applications are managed at a central place. This idea would destroy the idea of a central application manager.
I wouldn't mind this option, it is a quick way to get rid of applications. What are the other options?
click click synaptic click search program ... wait while updating database .... click to remove .. click apply
while it could be right click .. click remove .. click apply
That central place is still there. Otherwise, fear the command line as it also provides a direct way to remove the program! Not that the command line is an option... you have to know the exact naming of the application.
this is not good for a system that has administrators and users. Especially since in debian and ubuntu users have user permissions and only receive admin permissions after performing su or sudu.
I don't think this surpasses the Add/Remove function because you would still need it to add programs, or to remove a set of programs easier than doing it with right click.
Actually, you can remove a program through "Add/Remove", synaptic or by command-line, i don't think the beginner understand this a "central place".
Right-clicking can lead to an easier-to-use system, it is what brings Ubuntu to more an more people, isn't it?
Could someone how "this would destroy the idea of a central manager" and how it could impact negatively any end-user?
Thanks ;)
Whoa, really weird to see resistance to this concept. This should be a pretty simple issue: User sees a program -> user should have a shortcut to manipulating the program, right there.
Point of right clicking is "I want to do something else to/with this application than opening it", and removing the application fits perfectly to that context.
If you want to keep promoting the idea of a "central manager" (which synaptic already breaks), the remove action could bring up a custom dialog that has the same UI style as Add/Remove, and a button for opening the full Add/Remove interface. I agree it's a good usability guideline to have a consistent system, but I'd say providing direct manipulation is a much stronger usability guideline. And as I expailned, you can even have both!
The first few comments seem to have missed the point a bit, it's a Context Menu, not a menu item. You right click on the item.
This goes back to the whole noun vs verb thing in UI design. The Applications menu is a huge list of nouns and the number of verbs currently attached to them is very small.