user friendliest gui

[Polytropon]

On Tue, 11 May 2010 14:07:10 -0500 (CDT), Robert Bonomi <bonomi at mail.r-bonomi.com> wrote:
> Why??  Because, In this case, the GUI is entirely -un-necessary-.  The user
> doesn't have to do anything other than stick the flash drive in the USB port.
> 
> The machine does everything else.  *WITHOUT* any further user intervention 
> required.
> 
> Why bother with the GUI, when there is no inter-actiona required?

Valid point. No interaction -> no need for GUI, because you
can display needed information in a colorful text screen, too.
In this case, I'd suggest to use CDK (Curses development kit)
and an automated script.

If you're keen on setting up a graphical environment, do it
right: No window manager, no way to start programs. In your
~/.xinitrc nothing than the program to be run should be
executed. For "enriching" a shell script with GUI controls,
I would say that using Tcl/Tk is a good way.

Finally, I imagine that you want something like this:

	+----------------------------------+
	| VIRUS & MALWARE SCANNING STATION |
	| ================================ |
	| Insert your USB stick or thumb   |
	| drive into the USB port and then |
	| press <ENTER> to start the scan. |
	|              (OK)                |
	+----------------------------------+

Of course, users who want the complicated GUI way will now
grab the mouse and click the OK button.

	+----------------------------------+
	|        SCANNING IN PROGRESS      |
	|        ====================      |
	| The system is now scanning your  |
	| files. DO NOT REMOVE the stick   |
	| without being told so!           |
	+----------------------------------+

Additionally, files may be shown in a scrolling window as
they are processed. From a quick df / du measurement, the
percentage of the progress can be estimated.

	+----------------------------------+
	|         NOTHING FOUND            |
	|         =============            |
	| You may now remove your stick.   |
	|             (OK)                 |
	+----------------------------------+

or maybe

	+----------------------------------+
	|  ALERT! MALWARE HAS BEEN FOUND!  |
	|  ==============================  |
	| Take your USB stick and do not   |
	| insert it anywhere else. Your    |
	| system administrator has been    |
	| informed that your stick contai- |
	| ned a dangerous virus. Report to |
	| Mister Dillinger immedieately.   |
	|             (OK)                 |
	+----------------------------------+

You can do this both in text mode and in X. If you really,
REALLY want to use X for the sake of overcomplexity, you
can do that, but be prepared: The more unneeded stuff you
introduce, the more complicated the whole procedure gets,
and the more security risks may occur. You have hereby been
warned. :-)

As I mentioned before: MY suggestion would be to try to
avoid as many interaction as possible. "Windows" users
usually aren't good at understanding interaction concepts,
even if it comes in blue and red and shiny, or any other
old-fashioned candy-like color theme they are told to be
comfortable with. The most responsibility off them. Make
a machine that exactly and purely does the job, and does
it well.


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...