Bug 329637

Summary:	Better way to access YaST
Product:	[openSUSE] openSUSE 10.3	Reporter:	Michael Monreal <infernux>
Component:	GNOME	Assignee:	E-mail List <bnc-team-gnome-administration>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE	QA Contact:	E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity:	Enhancement
Priority:	P5 - None	CC:	forgotten_h13THG8RK1, forgotten_nqeDWc8OMK, vuntz
Version:	RC 1
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	openSUSE 10.3
Whiteboard:	gnome-usability
Found By:	Beta-Customer	Services Priority:
Business Priority:		Blocker:	---
Marketing QA Status:	---	IT Deployment:	---
Attachments:	Mockup

Description Michael Monreal 2007-09-29 12:27:20 UTC

Currently, the YaST configuration stuff is deeply hidden behind either the control-center or application windows. Someone who is looking for a way to change system settings will probably never find it, because it doesn't make sense to hide this as an application or gnome control center applet, and you would need to know that the old suse config tool is called YaST. 

Instead, I would like to see a link to YaST being integrated into the main menu. I would change "Control Center" to "Preferences", as it is desktop centric stuff and the same name is used in upstream gnome (also the same icon is used for "Preferences" in GTK applications). Then, add another entry "Administration" (using the preferences-system icon) for starting the new YaST shell. 

This works nice: there are currently 2 launcher shells (Applications, Control Center and YaST), it makes sense to have them all accessible from one place (main menu). One could argue that the yast tools are only meant for administrators, but let's face it: openSUSE is mostly used by individuals who need to use the system tools once in a while (or more often), so it makes sense to show this. Perhaps integrate it with the GNOME lockin settings to disable it in environments where users are not supposed to change settings.

Comment 1 Michael Monreal 2007-09-29 12:29:21 UTC

Created attachment 175618 [details]
Mockup

This is how the modified menu would look, note that the new entry doesn't really make the menu more complex or difficult, but the gained use and discoverability of YaST (which people should not need to know the name) would be huge improvement

Comment 2 Michael Monreal 2007-09-29 15:10:04 UTC

This is not a "simple enhancement", it is a huge usability problem!

Comment 3 Mark Gordon 2007-10-01 17:47:42 UTC

Many of the YaST modules that one would expect desktop users to need are exposed directly in the control center at this point.  Note also the left column in control center has Open Administrator Settings under Common Tasks.

I'd say it's definitely a problem that for some reason the GenericName for YaST isn't showing up on mouseover.  If that were working, it would be more discoverable than it currently is.

The problem with giving YaST a name that is more descriptive is that the veteran SUSE users will skip over it and continue searching for something called YaST.  I'm afraid we need to expose that name, though we should expose a more descriptive name as well.

Comment 4 Michael Monreal 2007-10-01 18:27:09 UTC

>> Many of the YaST modules that one would expect desktop users 
>> to need are exposed directly in the control center at this point.
Well, I don't think merging user preferences tools and administrative
tools is a very nice idea... the way upstream GNOME separates the 
two makes sense.

>> Note also the left column in control center has Open 
>> Administrator Settings under Common Tasks.
Thanks for pointing out, but this is totally undiscoverable...

>> I'd say it's definitely a problem that for some reason the 
>> GenericName for YaST isn't showing up on mouseover.
GenericName has failed and has been removed from most GNOME .desktop
files over the last few releases.

>> The problem with giving YaST a name that is more descriptive 
>> is that the veteran SUSE users will skip over it and continue 
>> searching for something called YaST.
Well, I understand this... kind of. Sure, some "veteran users" would
prefere the name YaST over anything new. But then again, the name had 
its use when it was used as an actual command line name in the days
of yast1. Now YaST2 even has it's shell modified to look like the GNOME
control center... you can't have it both ways. If you want to integrate 
with GNOME, don't use names like YaST, Totem or Epiphany.

I have made my own launcher "Administration" and added it to the 
system section of the main menu. Try it, it works great.

Comment 5 Gary Ekker 2008-03-26 18:08:16 UTC

Changing to component GNOME. Sorry for the spam.

Comment 6 Forgotten User h13THG8RK1 2008-03-27 03:46:11 UTC

*** Bug 372829 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7 Vincent Untz 2008-06-11 21:19:34 UTC

Stanislav worked on this in bug 302324.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 302324 ***