> A mouse is useful if you don't know how to tab around boxes.
I've heard it said that the only intuitive interface is the nipple - after that, everything is learned. Tab (to move) and space or return (to select) is not that hard to get a handle on - and, really, if that's the limiting factor for a computer user that's got their hands on a Debian installation (from 8+ years ago when GUI install wasn't an option) and managed to convince their computer to boot from CDROM / floppy / ZIP disk etc ... they almost definitely have some bigger problems in their near future.
> The disk layout option is super-scary for beginners, and full of warnings.
Disk layout options are comparable in GUI and text-based installs. Ditto the warnings.
I note that in both (and it's always been in the text-based) there's been a 'pick an automatic layout' option. Again, if you're dual-booting, and don't know what you're doing, then a GUI isn't going to be the thing that saves you from snotting your Windows partition during this process.
> I typically don't know what my 'domain' is (I've never known to this day what I should type in that box, and nothing I type ever seems to make any difference).
Same question is posed in every GNU/Linux distro installation, text or GUI, and in every instance of either that I've seen, the option exists to ignore it. Again, the problem of a fqdn isn't a function of whether you're using a text based installer, or a GUI one.