Ubuntu Wiki

The current dialogs that form the "Users and Groups" control panel are quite messy, confusing and don't match the quality of the other Administration dialogs. This wiki page is to note down ideas for possible improvements.

User Accounts dialog developed for Fedora http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/UserAccountDialog

Original Dialogs

Issues

• The main "Users Settings" dialog has a lot of unused blank space
• It's not obvious what the "Change..." buttons do
• "Account Type" sometimes says "Custom" which isn't very informative
• There is a "Manage Groups" button on what is predominantly a user-oriented form. To add a user to a group you may well go in a circle; open the dialog on the user, click "Manage Groups", find the group, click properties, find the user (again), mark them as part of the group. This is confusing and unnecessary, why not list the groups on the user page?
• It's not clear what you have to be an admin to do. Clicking "Advanced Settings" pops up a password dialog. Ideally you should be able to alter all your personal user settings, and "Unlock" to alter settings that are system wide or affect others.
• The "Advanced User Settings" dialog shows "Office location", "work phone" and "home phone". These aren't advanced settings and should be accessible without providing an admin password.
• When changing the name, it's not obvious whether you are changing the Full name, or the login name

Improved Designs

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