-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Luke Benstead wrote on 13/04/11 12:11:
>...
> If you guys haven't watched this (well, listened mainly) you really
> should.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaLDMz_e2jQ&feature=player_embedded
>
> I have to say though, I agree with him on pretty much every single
> point, especially his point about removing the top bar completely.
>...
Here is a summary of the video.
He calls the launcher auto-hide behavior "weird" and "really confusing":
- - The behavior is different depending on whether there is a window in
the left part of the screen.
- - The behavior is different depending on whether any window is
maximized (because a maximized window is in the left part of the
screen).
- - The launcher partly appears when you hover over the Ubuntu button,
but doesn't actually work unless you go right into the corner.
- - Hovering over the Ubuntu button reveals the launcher, but clicking
the Ubuntu button hides the launcher.
He recommends showing the launcher all the time by default, with an
option to auto-hide it.
Other launcher details:
- - He calls the icon stacking "pretty" clever", but is annoyed that it
expands downwards rather than upwards, which means that you have to
scroll the launcher by clicking and dragging.
- - The drag-scrolling is uselessly possible even when the launcher has
empty space. "For a long time I was wondering, what the hell was
that for?"
- - This in turn means that you can't rearrange items in the launcher
merely by dragging vertically.
- - At least the scrolling is better than the paging through icons in
Windows 7's taskbar, which "is no good because it's modal".
- - He suggests that instead of scrolling, it would be better for the
launcher to have a second row.
- - Failing that, he suggests putting up a little overlay message when
you scroll the launcher, explaining what's going on.
- - "I think that trash can is kind of silly, I just don't think people
need to look at their trash can that frequently."
- - He's also annoyed that "Applications", "Files & Folders", and
"Workspace Switcher" are stuck in the launcher permanently. "Special
cases always require a great deal of justification", and "having
workspaces visible by default is a really terrible idea". (He goes
into detail about people who barely even understand the distinction
between Web pages and browsers, let alone workspaces.)
Dash:
- - He likes the Dash, especially that the search field is at the top
rather than at the bottom as it is in Windows.
- - He thinks the default contents are good for novice users, but
wonders why there are four applications here, and guesses that they
might have been chosen by user testing.
- - The "Shortcuts" button is weird and has a confusing Home icon --
"it has nothing to do with" your home folder.
- - The resize button is "weird", because clicking it rearranges the
icons, and it seems unnecessary.
Applications screen:
- - "I generally like this ... nice and readable, very well-spaced."
- - He criticizes showing "Apps Available for Download" by default, for
two reasons:
- "For most computer users ... they're overwhelmed by all the
options that already exist on their systems ... Trying to throw
more stuff at them just makes them less happy."
- The list is "a whole bunch of apps, where people have no idea
what the hell they're for." No descriptions, and crappy names.
- - You need to click a tiny "See 74 more results" control to see the
full list of installed applications. Why not just expand the screen
and show them with a scrollbar straight away?
- - It's not obvious that "All Applications" is clickable, and the items
in it are too small.
Menu bar:
- - As someone who fidgets with his mouse, he dislikes how this makes
the menus show and hide distractingly.
- - When a background window is maximized:
- You can't close, minimize, or unmaximize it.
- The title for the active window looks like it's the title for
the background window.
- The menus for the active window look like they're the menus for
the maximized window.
- - He assumes that the "weird overlay" of the menu titles on the left
part of the application title is "a bug that will be fixed before
release".
- - He'd like to get rid of the global menu entirely.
- - Ideally, he'd prefer to get rid of the top bar entirely, moving the
icons at the top right of the screen to the bottom of the launcher.
- - "What they need, at the very least, to do is just ditch this whole
concept of merging the title bar into the top bar. You can't have
the global application menu, and this integrated title bar business,
going on at the same time."
- - Alternatively, have a button in the top bar that opens the menus in
a second row.
- - He likes the application icon shown in the top bar in Gnome 3.
Miscellaneous:
- - He doesn't like that mounted volumes appear in the launcher.
- - He calls the Desktop folder "the long-standing dumbest idea in
interface design for twenty years". Goes into detail about how it's
bad for expert users, beginners, and intermediate users for
different reasons.
- - He wants Unity to get rid of minimization, like Gnome 3, and in his
ideal design all windows would be maximized.
- --
mpt
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
iEYEARECAAYFAk2lj7oACgkQ6PUxNfU6ecqDBQCgu/VhFjxSPVkKk6qP4f9++EDH
HKwAoNNJnL5Hpg2gROHC6xHb1umwk1ZX
=Ys2s
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________________
Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
Post to : ayatana@lists.launchpad.net
Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
