We find ourselves with a difficult decision to make. Two solutions exist for one problem and unfortunately one must be discarded. However, we should not allow this fact to prevent us from pragmatically surveying the options and selecting the one which best fits the project. It is with that in mind that I offer the following observations and by no means do I intend to offend or discourage any developers involved.
The GNOME upstream solution provides an organized, HIG compliant way for the user to select between the various ways to end a session. It does so by balancing choice with simplicity and manages to group those choices in a meaningful way that does not require excessive mouse clicking from the user. The Log Out and Shut Down dialogs in this solution have the additional feature that they will automatically react if left alone for 60 seconds. This feature benefits the user by requiring one less mouse click should he or she wish to log out or halt the computer. In contrast, the Ubuntu solution presents the user with the same five options from the upstream solution plus two additional choices (sleep and hibernate) in one cluttered window. Switch User and Restart both require the same number of clicks as the upstream solution. Lock Screen requires one extra click (if it is to be removed from the System menu as was mentioned previously in this bug report). Shut Down and Log Out also require one extra click than the GNOME solution if we take into account the automatic reaction feature that the upstream solution provides. The two rows of atypically large buttons break consistency with other dialog windows in GNOME. Furthermore, seven functions plus a cancel button is an overwhelming number of choices to present to a user. Ending a session is one of the key areas where Ubuntu's usability will impact its users since most will perform this task frequently. For the reasons outlined above, I feel that the upstream session dialogs will provide the most polished experience for users and I urge Ubuntu devs to at least reconsider their adoption. -- logout dialog UI objections https://launchpad.net/bugs/33002 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
