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Description
In Windows, the control box (little icon in the top left hand corner of the window on the title bar) has an exit function if you double-click it. This is a tieover from Windows 3.1 when you didn't have the X button in the top right hand corner.
Old habits die hard - I always close a window by double-clicking on the control box rather than clicking the X button. Unfortunately, Ubuntu doesn't actually close the window - it just opens the control menu. It would be very useful for legacy Windows users such as myself if some of the commands were brought across to Ubuntu. It would also mean that future Windows users would find it easier to migrate.
Another example is Alt+F4, which is not fully implemented in Ubuntu - it closes down apps, but not Ubuntu itself.
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Eldmannen wrote on the 2 May 08 at 15:49
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Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 works in Ubuntu.
The double-click on the icon to close it just seems like a dumb legacy feature. You should press the X button.
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vexorian wrote on the 2 May 08 at 16:18
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You meant "more windows-user-friendly" interface?
Well I guess some people use that stuff, +0 though cause I don't think it is necessary and I don't agree to call that friendly.
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edm1 wrote on the 2 May 08 at 16:42
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I dont think we should implement non intuitive controls such as this. You will soon get used to closing the window the proper way.
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jdennis_99 wrote on the 2 May 08 at 19:18
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I will correct myself...
Alt+Tab does work in Ubuntu - my apologies.
Alt+F4 works to close applications - it does not work to shut down Ubuntu itself. If you press Alt+F4 in Windows while no application is open (or all applications are minimised), the Windows shutdown options box appears. Surely that cannot be too difficult to build in?
As for such shortcut keys being 'non-intuitive', I beg to differ. Over 20 years of Microsoft dominance, whether you like it or not, has made them intuitive. They are commonplace. Probably the best example of this - rather unfortunately for Microsoft - is Ctrl+Alt+Del. Everyone who's ever used Windows knows what that combination does - it's worked itself into popular culture.
I'm not saying that these were particularly 'intuitive' when Microsoft invented them, but decades of common use have made them more than intuitive - they're instinctive. These are ways that Windows users interact with computers. Just saying 'you'll get used to it' is a little demeaning. Why should I have to 'get used to it'? Hardware and software should work around us, not the other way around - that's the first basic principle of HCI.
There has been a precedent for this - it has been discussed in a similar idea. Microsoft built in shortcut compatibility for WordPerfect software in their early releases of Office, and it was very successful - Microsoft Office is still the standard productivity suite.
Personally, I think that Ubuntu should be as easy-to-use as possible. That means embracing all ways of operation, any way a user wants to use it. If people are used to doing things a certain way, why force them to do it a different way? It might sound trivial, but it's little things like this that make Windows users feel out of place using Linux, and therefore more disinclined to convert.
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tgape wrote on the 2 May 08 at 20:03
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Actually, in Windows, if you press Alt+F4 while the taskbar is selected, it prompts for shutting down Windows. All windows closed or minimized are merely different circumstances where the taskbar will be selected - because it's all that's left.
'Instinctive' does not mean what you think it means. A newborn will not assume that Ctrl+Alt+Del will restart a computer if it's never been in an environment where that happens. I understand what you're trying to say, but mangling the language doesn't help get the point across.
Also note that not all Windows users interact with Windows in the same manner - I was unaware that double-clicking on any part of a MS Windows window would cause the app to close. That would explain some of my issues with some apps dying unexpectedly. Given the tendency for some mice to produce spurious double-clicks when intends to drag them, I think that's a particularly dangerous config.
IMHO, these things should probably be options, not globals. For all I know, they are options.
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holizz wrote on the 2 May 08 at 20:14
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I voted -1 after reading the title. Go back to Windows if you want a Windows-friendly interface.
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steve196 wrote on the 2 May 08 at 21:52
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The double click thing is a rare problem i think, since it is from rather long ago. But anyway it would be nice to be able to configure, what a doubleclick in that corner does.
+1 for Alt+F4 bringing up the shutdown dialog if no window is open.
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jdennis_99 wrote on the 2 May 08 at 22:10
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holizz: 'I voted -1 after reading the title. Go back to Windows if you want a Windows-friendly interface.'
Nice to know that you didn't even bother to read my whole argument before voting. Perhaps I don't want to use Windows. Perhaps I want to use Ubuntu. And maybe its not too unreasonable for me to expect the user interface to behave in the same way - just for ease of use.
And maybe 90% of PCs run Windows anyway, and anything Ubuntu can do to try and change that can't be a bad thing. Open your mind to other possibilities and stop being so elitist.
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joethebarber wrote on the 3 May 08 at 05:11
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Ubuntu's strong because of its differences from windows, and I disagree with the idea that wide install base and age imply good interface design.
I'd argue that Ubuntu should break even more completely from microsoft's antiquated interface conventions, and I'd also like to mention that these sorts of requests are a very slippery slope. This would set a bad precedent for when the next person requests that super-E bring up a nautilus window or super-L lock the screen etc etc.
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jdennis_99 wrote on the 4 May 08 at 16:46
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qense:
Thanks for the link - very informative, and does explain a lot. My original argument does stand, though - LINUX might not be bothered about increasing its market share, but I've certainly got the impression that UBUNTU is.
If that is the case, one of the best ways to do it is to capture the middle ground - the grey area between Windows and Linux where people are wavering.
Of course, my suggestions are relatively small in comparison - by and large, Ubuntu does a very good job of being easy to use, and it does a lot of things to facilitate the migration from Windows. That's all I'm suggesting - not taking steps to imitate Windows, but to facilitate migration from Windows.
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