anecdotal report on discoverability of gnome screen "shield"

[Adam Williamson]

On Thu, 2013-07-18 at 19:30 -0500, Michael Catanzaro wrote:
> On Thu, 2013-07-18 at 17:07 +0000, Debarshi Ray wrote:
> > I am running gnome-shell-3.9.4 on a mostly F19 system, and what happens is
> > that when you start typing the curtain is automatically lifted. The same
> > happens if you press enter.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Debarshi
> 
> I think the easiest solution to the issue is to make any keypress lift
> the curtain.  Are there any downsides to that?

It is already almost the case in F19. Hitting any *non-modifier* key
raises the shield and actually enters that character in the password
field (the intended interaction is that you can simply start typing your
password).

Hitting modifier keys does nothing, though, and it seems like it might
be a good idea to change that. Also, along with Lynn, I don't understand
why there has to be a shield at all, at least on a typical computer
(which is still, I thought, what GNOME was supposed to be designed for).
The hand-wavy explanation I've been given is 'preventing accidental
interactions', but *exactly* what accidental interactions are we talking
about? On the screen 'behind' the shield, all I can do is enter a
password, change the input method, or adjust the volume. Given that
hitting any key at the shield raises it and activates the password entry
field (as described above), what *exactly* is it that the 'shield' is
shielding me from?
-- 
Adam Williamson
Fedora QA Community Monkey
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