User testing of Ubuntu Software Center consistently shows that some people think they can launch an application by clicking the screenshot.
This problem has previously been observed by people testing on-screen help. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuHelp/UsingScreenshots> I thought I could get around it in USC 3.0 by showing only a small clickable thumbnail, but that isn't working. So, we need to try something else.
In usability testing of Ubuntu 12.04 beta, one of the 15 testers still clicked on the screenshot. "I can't open it. It's a bit weird."
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#gallery>: "To emphasize that it is a gallery, the gallery should include thumbnails of each item even if there is only one. The currently displayed media, and each thumbnail, should each appear inside an inset border, with the border of the focused item highlighted."
I've made some changes which have landed in trunk recently:
- As suggested by mpt, a magnifying glass icon onhover (though the stock icon is not the best)
- A fading tooltip which clearly explains clicking will open the larger version of the screenshot
Perhaps these tweaks improve things a bit?