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Disk space requirements aren't obscure technical information. Providing it wouldn't confuse anyone, especially not anyone adept enough to install an operating s
by natrius 17y ago
Disk space requirements aren't obscure technical information. Providing it wouldn't confuse anyone, especially not anyone adept enough to install an operating system. It should be provided.
- Tuna-Fish 17y ago> Providing it wouldn't confuse anyone You fail at UI. Any and all information always adds some cognitive load and confuses the user. Every time you think you should show the user something, you must figure out a very convincing reason why you should not just leave it out. There clearly isn't one for majority of users who are going to install ubuntu, and for the rest, googling for two easy words isn't going to be too much of trouble.
- natrius 17y agoDisk space is required to install the OS. The alternative is letting the user download the .iso, burn it, then try to install only to have the installer complain about not having enough space. That is failing at UI. The additional cognitive load of reading a disk space requirement is negligible, especially compared to what someone who needed that information has to go through without it. You haven't even considered the possibility that a user might not think about how much space they have until they come across the requirement. Not only are you wrong, but "You fail at UI" is a particularly abrasive way to be wrong.
- Tuna-Fish 17y ago> Not only are you wrong I might well be wrong about whether it's worth it to show disk space or not. I have no problem admitting this, because I haven't done any studies about it. > but "You fail at UI" is a particularly abrasive way to be wrong. >The additional cognitive load of reading a disk space requirement is negligible Apparently I was too abrasive, or not abrasive enough. NO amount of cognitive load is negligible. Ever. When you design a dialog with two buttons that both have to be there, both of those buttons are creating a significant amount of cognitive load. Understanding this is largely why apple makes good UI's. You should never try to justify removing something from the UI -- you must instead always have very good reasons why NOT to remove something, and remove it by default if you can't find enough (not any). As I said, I have not made any studies of how users install ubuntu or what they expect, but as it's supposed to be installed as the os on the computer, in place of whatever that was before, and as there is no commonly available commodity hardware that it won't install on, I can easily see how there is no longer enough justification to show disk space requirements.
- dandelany 17y ago> Apparently I was too abrasive, or not abrasive enough. Just the first one.
- natrius 17y agoOk, let me revise my statement: the cognitive load of the requirement is only negligible in comparison to the frustration not including the requirement would cause. Apple puts the disk space requirements in every single installer. Disk usage is an important piece of information. I'd agree with you if it were something like "Ubuntu requires a Pentium II or higher".
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- robotron 17y agoIt's right there on the features page. That takes fewer clicks than finding the requirements for Windows 7.
- mwexler 17y agoAnd I ask: is that the right place for System Requirements? And should that be the ONLY place it's mentioned? Is requiring space really a "feature"?
- pronoiac 17y agoThe difference between RAM & disk space continues to elude some, never mind megabytes versus gigabytes & now terabytes.
- natrius 17y agoYeah, I shouldn't have said it wouldn't confuse anyone, but it's still information that should be provided.
- daleharvey 17y agoand has been ... ?