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Questions tagged [usability]

Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object, in this case, software.

Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object, in this context, software. That would include Ubuntu and related applications.

117 questions
87
votes
4 answers

How to change LUKS passphrase?

Having installed Ubuntu 11.10 with whole disk encryption and LVM, I need to provide a way for users to easily change LUKS passphrase. Preferably, this should be done using GUI tools, thus, enabling novice users to perform this basic task.
ervingsb
  • 1,191
54
votes
7 answers

How are typical users expected to read the documentation in /usr/share/doc?

I recently learned that there is a huge pile of documentation in /usr/share/doc. It seems like much of it is gzipped so that it is not directly accessible without administrative privileges: $ gunzip examples/letter.tex.gz gzip: examples/letter.tex:…
ændrük
  • 78,496
38
votes
8 answers

Keeping multiple terminal windows in focus

I write code. I use terminal a lot. I ofter use many terminal windows. I hate how tabs look. Are there any applications that allow me to keep multiple terminal windows in focus to streamline my development?
myusuf3
  • 35,659
30
votes
6 answers

Drag and Drop across (fullscreen) applications, switching via Alt-Tab

Example Drag media file onto Totem's playlist to enqueue Bug in Compiz Especially for Unity (formerly Netbook Edition, being intended for small screens) this is quite a vital feature, as applications most often are run fullscreen, and dragging with…
type
  • 3,247
30
votes
1 answer

Refreshing the wireless network list?

When I wake up my laptop (Ubuntu 10.04) from suspension, it does not recognize the available wireless networks. The only way to refresh the list is to disable wireless networking, and than enable it. Any idea how to force a refresh on the list of…
Adam Matan
  • 12,919
29
votes
4 answers

How to change tab in Google Chrome with the keyboard, in Ubuntu

In OSX, you can browse tabs in browsers by Ctrl+ N/p or similar. I have not found any keys in Ubuntu 14.04. How can you browse tabs of browsers by keyboard in Ubuntu?
Léo Léopold Hertz 준영
  • 4,767
26
votes
2 answers

How to copy/paste from "Sorry, the application XXX has stopped unexpectedly"

An app just crashed and I want to copy the error message and paste it into a search engine to hopefully find a solution. Unfortunately the error dialog does not allow me to copy/paste anything: In particular the stack trace, which is very long.…
Nicolas Raoul
  • 11,921
26
votes
5 answers

Minimal terminal editor alternative to vi and nano

What terminal/console mode alternatives to vi/vim and nano are available? I am looking for minimal, good looking and friendly text mode editor for complete newbies with PC. I remember I've seen somewhere a terminal editor that showed menu on Esc…
anatoly techtonik
  • 2,661
20
votes
2 answers

Is it possible to drag files with right click?

Is there a way (maybe using some script in nautilus or something) so that you can drag files with the right mouse button and when you release, you're shown the context menu? If it can even be achieved using some modifier key + left button, I'm ok…
Mussnoon
  • 5,236
19
votes
4 answers

How to select text for copy and paste in Chrome by keyboard not using the mouse?

I have some online tutorial open in my Google chrome. It tells me to run some commands in a terminal. My current workflow is to select the necessary parts via mouse, and insert the copied text via middle mouse click in a terminal. I want to to avoid…
k0pernikus
  • 6,336
19
votes
4 answers

How do I get Aero Snap in Unity 2D?

I really miss the "Aero Snap" window snapping feature present in Unity 3D. Is there any way I can get it, or an alternative to it, in Unity 2D?
Shibumi
  • 495
19
votes
1 answer

How can I stop Files from oversimplifying file types?

When I sort files by type in Files, both JPEG and TIFF file types are described unhelpfully as "Image". This oversimplification makes sorting effectively useless for me: When writing this question I considered illustrating the unhelpfulness of such…
ændrük
  • 78,496
18
votes
7 answers

From Screenshot to "edit Image"

If I take a screenshot, often the next action is to paint on it. Sometimes I paint a circle around something, sometimes I blank parts to anonymize them. Below is an example of the window after the screenshot was taken: It would be great if I could…
guettli
  • 1,765
16
votes
2 answers

Gedit: Search next match ... usability

Searching the next match with gedit makes me crazy. I press Ctrl+F The search input box opens I enter foo There is a match for foo. Nice Up to now everything is sane I want to search the next match (with keyboard, not mouse): How? For me Enter or…
guettli
  • 1,765
14
votes
1 answer

Why does no file manager ask for higher permission if needed?

I just answered another beginners question about "Cannot write.......check permissions". Of course I know how to use chown/chmod; I'm working with command line anyway. But the average consumer does not. So what should I tell people without any…
AnnoSiedler
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