making the most common difficultly in anaconda easier?
by Matthew Miller
So, first ... the new anaconda UI launched, like, a decade ago. It was a
huge improvement over what was there.... but it's probably time for at least
the next refinement?
h
But, that's big. And I don't know when there might be plans for anything
like that.
However, I was reading
https://hackandslash.blog/linux-basics-how-to-install-linux/
which has a nice comparison of different distro installers, and some nice
things to say about Anaconda — "The Fedora installer is more parallel and
streamlined than Ubuntu's".
But it does note:
After you click on the "Installation Destination" button, you'll be
greeted with the above screen. This is where a lot of people get confused
with the Fedora installer. If there is only one disk, that disk is
automatically selected. If that is the case for you, you can simply click
done here and the entire disk will be used for the installation.
And, yeah, that's absolutly right. That confuses a lot of people. Just now
did an install of Fedora Server in a VM, and had to remind myself of that
step. I think we could do three small things to make this better.
1. Please please please this
https://github.com/rhinstaller/anaconda/pull/2242 :)
2. I think the disk checkbox is not obvious enough — I've observed a lot of
people who are confused about what's selected and what's not. And since
if people have multiple drives they may care _very much_ that the wrong
one not get used, it takes a lot of brainpower to confirm.
One suggestion would be to use a lists-in-columns pattern, with selected
drives in a box on the right, unselected drives in a list on the left,
and arrows (and drag and drop?) to move them back and forth. Or, above
and below if the layout doesn't make left-right work well.
Color coding might help, but it's hard because it's unclear if "green" /
"safe" coding means "use this!" or "don't touch", and similarly
red/warning/negative could mean "ignore" ... or "destroy what's here!".
So I'll leave the specifics to a UI person, but... I think we should
highlight that as an area to improve.
3. When there is just one available unparitioned disk, just select it and
say so. Don't give a warning icon and make people go into the spoke to
clear it.
If there is just one disk _and it has sufficient free space_, select and
pre-configure that _maybe_ with a "notice" indicator, but not one that
blocks moving forward.
In addition to this, it would be nice to make the "begin installation"
instructions bigger and more friendly feeling.
Over and over, I have seen people who think they need to click through each
spoke, and who then complain "why can't I just press 'next' through all of
these". In other words, they're getting the _opposite_ effect from the
intention of the design, which is "you shouldn't have to press next on
things you're not changing". I still think that's the right design, but I
think we could show it to people better.
--
Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader
2 years, 4 months
making the most common difficultly in anaconda easier?
by Matthew Miller
So, first ... the new anaconda UI launched, like, a decade ago. It was a
huge improvement over what was there.... but it's probably time for at least
the next refinement?
h
But, that's big. And I don't know when there might be plans for anything
like that.
However, I was reading
https://hackandslash.blog/linux-basics-how-to-install-linux/
which has a nice comparison of different distro installers, and some nice
things to say about Anaconda — "The Fedora installer is more parallel and
streamlined than Ubuntu's".
But it does note:
After you click on the "Installation Destination" button, you'll be
greeted with the above screen. This is where a lot of people get confused
with the Fedora installer. If there is only one disk, that disk is
automatically selected. If that is the case for you, you can simply click
done here and the entire disk will be used for the installation.
And, yeah, that's absolutly right. That confuses a lot of people. Just now
did an install of Fedora Server in a VM, and had to remind myself of that
step. I think we could do three small things to make this better.
1. Please please please this
https://github.com/rhinstaller/anaconda/pull/2242 :)
2. I think the disk checkbox is not obvious enough — I've observed a lot of
people who are confused about what's selected and what's not. And since
if people have multiple drives they may care _very much_ that the wrong
one not get used, it takes a lot of brainpower to confirm.
One suggestion would be to use a lists-in-columns pattern, with selected
drives in a box on the right, unselected drives in a list on the left,
and arrows (and drag and drop?) to move them back and forth. Or, above
and below if the layout doesn't make left-right work well.
Color coding might help, but it's hard because it's unclear if "green" /
"safe" coding means "use this!" or "don't touch", and similarly
red/warning/negative could mean "ignore" ... or "destroy what's here!".
So I'll leave the specifics to a UI person, but... I think we should
highlight that as an area to improve.
3. When there is just one available unparitioned disk, just select it and
say so. Don't give a warning icon and make people go into the spoke to
clear it.
If there is just one disk _and it has sufficient free space_, select and
pre-configure that _maybe_ with a "notice" indicator, but not one that
blocks moving forward.
In addition to this, it would be nice to make the "begin installation"
instructions bigger and more friendly feeling.
Over and over, I have seen people who think they need to click through each
spoke, and who then complain "why can't I just press 'next' through all of
these". In other words, they're getting the _opposite_ effect from the
intention of the design, which is "you shouldn't have to press next on
things you're not changing". I still think that's the right design, but I
think we could show it to people better.
--
Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader
2 years, 4 months