Re: Installer UI advices

[Adrian Robert]

> If this would be an imporvement over archives is open to discussion 
> (and I must agree with you that I don't think that, again given 
> appropriate support, DMG's hold any advantage over archives), but the 
> concept itself is doable.

The key here is "given appropriate support" -- not just in practical 
usability (number of mouse clicks, disposal convenience, etc.), but in 
connecting with a *metaphor* the user understands.  Disk images rely on 
the "disk" metaphor, which users know already from other computer 
experience, though there are some inconsistencies as pointed out, since 
there is no physical analog to the image.  Archives whose desktop icons 
look like packages, and act like packages, can rely on the "package" 
metaphor, which all users are familiar with from the real world (you 
get a package, you open it, you find your new item inside, sometimes 
there is assembly required ;-).  On the other hand "archives" in the 
abstract, such as a zip file, don't have any metaphor to rely on.  
Naive users I've talked with always have a hard time "getting" 
archives.

Thus, the incidentals of the desktop handling of archives, such as what 
icons are used, behavior on opening, etc., should be paid attention to. 
 E.g., it is intuitive to open a "package" and get some special 
interface specific to packages, but it is not intuitive to open one and 
get a plain disk folder.  At least, not as intuitive as opening a disk 
and getting a disk folder.  Maybe representing an archive as a manila 
envelope or something like that would salvage the situation for 
archives.  StuffIt used a "clamped" (i.e., compressed) folder..