Re: Launchpad and the GNOME panel

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

EAMorical@aol.com wrote:
> 
> There is an assumption being made namely that people have already bought into
> the GNOME panel. Thus the first question is whether or not the GNOME panel is
> the appropriate GUI.

> Another question is how important is it to have a consistant look and feel
> across all applications. I guess another question is how easy is it to switch
> GUIs.

Yeah, I guess that was an unspoken assumption.  Since Scholar Net is
going with GNOME and both RedHat and Debian are shipping or planning to
ship their distros with GNOME (I don't know about S.u.S.E., Caldera,
MkLinux, LinuxPPC, or TurboLinux) it seemed as though that might be the
easiest way to get an easily installable (another assumption--that
hacking the panel would make for an easy install) student user interface
that would work on a wide variety of platforms.  If anyone has any
information on what is considered good or bad for a computer interface
for younger students (assumption--older students can reasonably be
expected to use the same UI as other users) please post it here to
inform our discussion.

The question of the importance of a consistent look and feel across the
grade levels and across all applications probably hinges on the replies
to my last sentence above.  If younger kids can use near standard UIs
effectively I think that a consistent L'n'F is a good idea.  If not,
then the question of switching UIs becomes important.  Luckily, that's
pretty easy in Linux.  At home I can switch between WindowMaker,
Afterstep, and fvwm95 pretty much without any problems.  In fact, the
WindowMaker menu has a selection for switching to Afterstep on it.  All
your applications stay open, you just change your window manager. 
Slick.

-- 
Doug Loss                 It is impossible to imagine Goethe
Data Network Coordinator  or Beethoven being good at billiards
Bloomsburg University     or golf.
dloss@bloomu.edu                H. L. Mencken