User Feedback :: Another Live CD Article on OS News
Quote (cbagger01 @ Feb. 03 2005,00:32)
I don't take someone's opinion seriously when they rank look and feel above functionality, especially when we are talking about an OS that runs from a CD drive.
Me neither. But guess what, superiority in features dont matter. what matters is how good it looks and how easy to use it is. common guys!!! havent we learn this lesson yet after 2 decades of computer revolution?My copy of DSL came from Linux Format. Is there a newer version available? Where on this site do I find that out? I just saw some great stuff and I don't think I have those things.Heh, try the Downloads page.
Most of the mirrors should have 0.9.3 by now.
-J.P.There is most likely a newer version, since 0.9.3 was just released. When you mention great stuff you don't think you have, keep in mind that one of the great features of DSL is the ability to add applications to the system, even if you don't have it installed on your harddrive. Some of that stuff you've seen may be extensions.Everyone seems to basically be saying "Yeah, DSL is ugly, but it works and has lots of stuff on it". I'm thinking that the exact same functionality can be preserved, but with a facelift, if we simply do some renaming, rearranging, and icon updating.
First thing is icons. A lot of the icons are, lets face it, pretty ugly, and could probably do with at least some sort of attempt at a standardised look. BUT, that said, I personally think that half of these icons could simply be dropped from the desktop, leaving only the MAIN icons, with secondary apps still accessable from the menu. Also clearly labeling what they do. For example, having the rows of icons sorted into related groups, say:
row1: System: Command Line (XTerm), Control Panel (DSL Panel), Install Packages (MyDSL), File Browser (Emelfm)
row2: OfficeStuff: Editor (Beaver), Word Processor (FLWriter), spreadsheet (whatever this is), PDF Viewer (Xpdf)
row4: Multimedia: Media Player (XMMS), Image Viewer (xZVG), Paint (xPaint)
To my mind, everything else could be removed from the desktop, as they are usually secondary alternatives of these apps, and available through the menu. This would greatly clean up the desktop, and clearly label what the apps do.
I think the menu needs a little more grouping or labeling too - for example, going into "Net", you are confronted with a list of apps in no particular order, and no idea what each does unless you already know the app.
Just saying that DSL could be made to appear cleaner and "prettier" with just some carefully planned rearrangement and renaming, and possibly some new icons - it doesn't need any system-intensive gnome or KDE stuff, just a bit of a tidy up.Next Page...
original here.