Version: (using KDE 3.5.9) Installed from: SuSE RPMs Please, allow user to just run the KMail, look at them menu, marvel the icons, click here, click there. If user wants to use it she/he will configure KMail -- but do not force every user to answer the question just from the start: what kind of account, password, login, etc. Besides, it is not polite even in sense of program UI -- taste first, use later. Kmail is too offensive.
Some clarification, I see user is able to skip the wizard by pressing "cancel". This part is unclear, because the dialog is titled "kmail" so it looks like canceling KMail. Please retitle the button "skip the wizard". But, the whole design can be better. Do not show the wizard at all. User can configure KMail from settings menu or when user tries to fetch or send mail and there is no account defined, the wizard would kick in.
Maciej, I think your first words are true. Cancel should be replaced with "Skip wizard" in the first screen. However, the second part seems to be seen from an expert point of view. My mother (one of my personae) really likes the wizard and as it only pops up the first time, and experts can skip it, it should not be removed!
Let me start by saying, that I consider myself as power user, however I also help weekend users to run computers, among them -- my Mom. So first of all, I am a bit suspicious -- your Mom (as I understood it) is not an expert, but she installs and configures KMail by herself? For me it is the first contradiction (i.e. I am doubtful). The second contradiction is this -- your Mom (or in general, any weekend user) is supposed to understand all the stuff with IMAP/POP3, SSL, plain text, and so on, no problem here, but there _is_ problem with clicking "settings/configure KMail"? Somehow I cannot believe it. Wizard is not shown once. It is shown each time for every not-configured KMail. And I saw it already too many times. And few remarks of general nature. Good solutions scale up. If startup wizard is such a good solution we should introduce it everywhere -- Dolphin, Konqueror, Gwenview, KDE itself, and so on and on. Really? IMHO -- no. It is counter productive. Ideally, installing and running program should not require any user interaction -- it means no EULA's, not installation wizards, no startup wizards. Program should not force user to do anything, it should let do it. This is significant difference. Programs should be usable, user-friendly, that's for sure, but they should not undermine productivity -- if they do, they are more like toys, not tools.
The install of openSUSE iseasy enough for my Mom, yes. And to remove te contradiction: No, she should not have to know about IMAP/POP3 etc. The wizard should know the right values that belong to her email-address. It ain't hard to learn Kmail the biggest 10 e-mail services and their values for noobies. Ifaik it will resolve the issue of knowing such values for 80% of the home-users. Bussiness-users have their ICT-supportdesk to ask for some help :P I don't know if it is possible to poll al server, but if that's possible we could at least guess one time and propose the configuration. The wizard is shown once, cause you are supposed to set up Kmail the first time. Why should someone start Kmail twice without configuring it aka using it? Good solutions do scale up. That's why I get a wizard since KDE 4.8 when configuring Akonadi as a resource for contacts, first start of Amarok (where is your music boy?) and Digikam. Every rogramm that needs to be configued before use, should have an easy wizard that helps you setting the most important values. How come you see the wizard so often? I see it once every clean profile (like:twice a year)
Just to clarify, I am not against possibility of running wizard, I am against startup wizard. And again if user is so tech-savvy to install an app, and configure it, she/he is able to click one item in the menu. After all, in case of KMail, how is user supposed to reply to mail (one item on toolbar or menu) if she/he cannot do the same for another item? > Ifaik it will resolve the issue of knowing such values for 80% of > the home-users. Could you please tell my where you get those data from? > Why should someone start Kmail twice without configuring it aka using it? Because the system was reinstalled. Because it is another user. Because it is another computer. > That's why I get a wizard since KDE 4.8 when > configuring Akonadi as a resource for contacts, No, that's why many developers do not have clue about usability and accessibility. The candy-effect pays off better than hard work on usability. That is why we have all the "are you sure" crap instead of undo, that is why why we have all the "tips of the day" junk, that is why we have more and more EULA's. The fact world is shifting in some direction is not a _proof_ the one is right. > Every rogramm that needs to be configued before > use, should have an easy wizard that helps you setting the most important > values. AGAIN, they can have wizards, no problem, but no STARTUP wizards. Use cases (just examples): * Kmail -- I am evaluating import feature to compare it to Thunderbird, what do I need full setup at start for? * Amarok -- I would like to play some audio file, right now, sorry, but I don't need any setup, album settings, and so on If you wonder where this lead, observe Windows -- it is great example of your vision of user-friendliness, you cannot touch app before stating if you want search button with it, toolbar in FF, location, file association, and so on and on and on. And when you have to reinstall the system, or something like this, you get sick, before you even start. Bottom line is -- usability matters. One of its principle is this -- user is in control. Software should allow do things, not push the user around.
And btw. what do you need configuration in the first place (in case of KMail)? Sending and getting mail? Then why not adding little check on those two actions: if (program_is_not_configured_yet) run_wizard(); ? Such transparent design pays off, because user sees interruptions in his/her workflow ONLY when it is needed, not "just in case". So the user experience is much more smooth.
Wait, are we discussing something I missed? Does Kmail not check if it is configured? If it is, it should not start the wizard (seems obvious to me so I assumed it does not. I never experienced something else)
It does check it -- on startup. So it forces one workflow.
not a bug. When kmail is launched for the first time, the wizard appears. The user can then close it, it will not reappear.