Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:55:12 -0700 From: "Devin Teske" <dteske@vicor.com> To: "'Alexander Leidinger'" <Alexander@Leidinger.net> Cc: 'FreeBSD Hackers' <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>, 'Mike Meyer' <mwm@mired.org> Subject: RE: [RELEASE] New Boot-Loader Menu Message-ID: <007201cc06c8$e1d99260$a58cb720$@vicor.com> In-Reply-To: <20110429223355.00004ab0@unknown> References: <9AD2C0D5-F2A7-4F20-B04A-AF9BFC5918F7@vicor.com> <20110429130820.5056390e@bhuda.mired.org> <000301cc069f$edf8bd10$c9ea3730$@vicor.com> <20110429223355.00004ab0@unknown>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: Alexander Leidinger [mailto:Alexander@Leidinger.net] > Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 1:34 PM > To: Devin Teske > Cc: 'Mike Meyer'; 'FreeBSD Hackers' > Subject: Re: [RELEASE] New Boot-Loader Menu >=20 > On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:02:03 -0700 "Devin Teske" <dteske@vicor.com> > wrote: >=20 > > I was thinking that what we ought to do is support *both* numbers > > *and* letters. >=20 > Sounds good to me. >=20 > > I envision the menuitem numbers remaining unchanged (1-7), allowing > > those familiar with the numbers to use them. > > > > However, as for the letters, I'm thinking that we *BOLD* the mnemonic > > in the menuitem. For example (showing bolded items between asterisks): > > > > 1. Boot *[ENTER]* > > 2. *A*CPI Support: Enabled > > 3. Boot Safe Mode: NO > > 4. Boot *S*ingle User: NO > > 5. Boot *V*erbose: NO > > 6. *Esc*ape to loader prompt > > 7. *R*eboot > > > > This should indicate to the user, for example if they see that the "V" > > in "Verbose" is bolded, that they can press that key to activate that > > menuitem. >=20 Your below points are all valid arguments. However, I think they are a bit reaching. The types of people that know what it means to boot into Single-User and/or Verbose mode would not be prone to thinking in those ways. And, even if they were, let's look at the consequences for each: > Presented like this a naive first interpretion could be that the letters = have to be > entered as upper-case. I do not think someone wants to press shift there.= .. > Scenario: Na=EFve User presses Shift-V. Nothing happens. They then press "v" ... the = menu toggles to "YES". They press ENTER. Success -- the na=EFve user has managed= to boot with the desired options. > Having the characters in bold but the numbers not could also let someone = think > that only the characters matter. >=20 Scenario: Na=EFve user thinks that only the letters matter, and the only bold items o= n the menu are "[ENTER]", "S", and "V". Na=EFve user is left wondering how to act= ivate menuitems 2, 3, 6, and 7 for which there are no bolded letters. Na=EFve use= r never figures out that the numbers are usable and eventually presses ENTER. The machine boots. Ok... you got me on this one ... this hypothetical [extremely] na=EFve user= may not figure out how to use options 2, 3, 6, and 7, and thus cannot disable A= CPI, cannot boot in Safe Mode (disabling both ACPI and APIC, etc.), nor escape t= o the loader prompt, nor reboot (assuming they don't know how the three-finger-so= lute or where the power button is). My concession to this user would be to bold the numbers to the left of each menuitem. The user would have to be beyond na=EFvet=E9 if they couldn't fig= ure it out with bold numbers, IMHO. > Having a text which tells that the numbers and lower-case characters work= for > chosing something, may be a solution here. Another solution is maybe > 1/[ENTER]. Boot 2/a. ACPI Support... > ... > but I have to admit that the second solution is ugly. > A third solution could be to have the numbers and the characters in bold. >=20 Yeah, that's no good. Too ugly. I'm still leaning toward just making the "V" in "Verbose" and "S" in "Single User" bolded. --=20 Devin > Bye, > Alexander. >=20 > -- > http://www.Leidinger.net Alexander @ Leidinger.net: PGP ID =3D B0063FE7 > http://www.FreeBSD.org netchild @ FreeBSD.org : PGP ID =3D 72077137 _____________ The information contained in this message is proprietary and/or confidentia= l. If you are not the intended recipient, please: (i) delete the message an= d all copies; (ii) do not disclose, distribute or use the message in any ma= nner; and (iii) notify the sender immediately. In addition, please be aware= that any message addressed to our domain is subject to archiving and revie= w by persons other than the intended recipient. Thank you. _____________
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