New Boot Loader Menu

[Warner Losh]

On Oct 8, 2012, at 12:02 AM, Doug Barton wrote:
>>> Regarding the UI on your submenu example; never, ever, ever use 
>>> Backspace to mean anything other than "delete the character behind
>>> the cursor."
>> 
>> Seriously? Who made _that_ rule? and moreover, _WHY_?
> 
> Um, if you don't already know the answers, I really can't help you. Go
> get a book on how to right proper user interfaces.

I've seen several interfaces that used this paradigm, and it works well so long as BackSpace doesn't have another binding in that context.  I'd be curious to find a book that says NEVER, EVER do this.  It drives me nuts on my DVD player that I have to hit 'STOP' sometimes to get back to the main menu, 'RETURN' other times, the back arrow other times and the back rewind still other times depending on which context I'm in.  They are all the same bloody thing, and on other DVD players, they all do the same thing, even if the back arrow is the only one they document (well, except maybe for STOP, that's the odd-man out, but that part of the UI of my DVD player is the part that sucks the most).

So as primary and only, I'm not so sure.  As an alias, it is fine.  What else are you going to do with it?  A case could be made that you are 'deleting' the previous character that got you to that menu.  In the absence of menu buttons that you can click on,  there needs to be some easy way to go back.

> Meanwhile, I've no objection to the idea of having move "safe mode" to a
> submenu, if that's the consensus. I don't think we should move ACPI
> because users who need to enable that option are already having enough
> problems as it is.

Maybe we need a menu item: "Help With Booting (special settings and modes)" or something similar that we hide these things behind.  While "Advanced" might look sleek and cool, people unfamiliar with the boot process won't think to try it if they are having trouble.

Warner