the dash and apps lens do allow you to browse your applications it's just not near as streamlined as the old menus or the dash search is and because of that the general experience of browsing applications in the dash for a number of users falls short of the experience they had with the old menus. i think the biggest problem that people who miss the old menus really have isn't so much the number of clicks. i think the real problem lies with the much more complex motions you have to use as opposed to the simple ones the old menus allowed.
here's a sketch of what i mean. http://ubuntuone.com/4Yfzjw60XVrAJLAkQOjCOI in the "worst case" scenario the user has to click to show the filters/categories and the "show more results" option resulting in a lot of jumping around with the mouse as opposed to the relatively simple motion those users got with the old menus. in the best case, when the filters are already shown and you don't have to "show more results," you still end up with a extra movement and having to move back into space that you've already passed over. using a quicklist shortcut to the apps lens will cut out a large chunk of the extra movement but you're still left having to go back towards where you just passed over. there are users, like myself, who hide their filters again for various reasons and will almost never get the best case experience when browsing. so how can browsing applications in the dash be made a more pleasant experience? i think all it would take is some rearrangement of what's already in the dash lens. something like this should work nicely. http://ubuntuone.com/5U4p7G03mR5PPsyLOe507I moving the lens buttons to the left side puts them close to the dash button and makes them much quicker and easier to get to. it should actually put them somewhat close to being as easily used with the mouse as the quicklist. the filters/categories are placed just to the right of that since if someone is browsing instead of searching that is likely to be the first thing used in the apps lens. then the applications are show to the right of that. this arrangement leaves the mouse movement flowing from left to right through the various areas of the dash>apps lens in the same order that the user is likely to need them when browsing their applications. it may not be a perfect solution to the browsing problems in the dash and it doesn't fix every issue in the apps lens but i'm sure it would make it a much more pleasant browsing experience than what we have now. please note that this would have very little effect on users who search their way through the dash as this wouldn't replace that functionality. it should just improve mouse use in the dash. -- Josh Strawbridge
-- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~unity-design Post to : unity-design@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~unity-design More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
