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Re: [Ayatana] Idea for improving visibility of running applications



Is it really? I mean you won't keep staring at the launcher when you've launched the application you wanted, right? Try the launcher again and then move away the focus of your eyes to the middle of the screen where your application probably will popup, try imagining it in a real life situation.

2011/5/5 Niklas Rosenqvist <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx>
Is it really? I mean you won't keep staring at the launcher when you've launched the application you wanted, right?


2011/5/5 Spike Burch <spikeb@xxxxxxxxx>
The idea of having the boxes around the icons be clear when not
running and colored when running is a good one. the fading bit is too
distracting.

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 11:40 AM, Niklas Rosenqvist
<niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> "But please tell me one reason why increasing the visibility of the
> background of running apps isn't just as good in terms of visibility
> with the added benefit of being always visible, not just on hover,
>  i.e. more consistent and more usable."
>
> The reason for why I don't think that's such a good idea is because there's
> a risk there will be too much going on on the launcher together with
> colorful icons, counters and progress bars. Therefore I believe the solution
> is to tune down the noise and not add more, this will provide a cleaner
> interface.
> I just finished my JS and HTML mockup and I feel that it works very good in
> practice. Don't expect it to be completely bug free because I did it quick
> and dirty to just have something to show you guys. It basically works in all
> new browsers so feel free to try it out. Though if you click around like
> crazy there's a chance the icons don't change as they should.
> Mockup:
> http://unity-mockup.nsrosenqvist.com/
> Source:
> http://unity-mockup.nsrosenqvist.com/source/unity-mockup.zip
> 2011/5/4 Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 6:39 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist
>> <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> > I think it would be a shame to desaturate the applications which aren't
>> > running at all times. If you have the launcher set to always visible and
>> > only one application running then it would look dark and boring, don't
>> > you
>> > think?
>>
>> Not only the looks, I think desaturated icons don't look exactly
>> inviting to a new user. They more look like either hidden or even
>> crashed applications, not like launchers. I'm repeating myself, but
>> this problem isn't actually solved by making that view hover only.
>> Just the first part (the looks) is made a bit less glaring.
>>
>> > And as I said in my previous post, I can't really see the use in
>> > showing which applications are hidden. It has never been deemed
>> > necessary,
>> > not in   Windows and in Gnome 2.x it's only shown with a pair of "[ ]"
>> > around the application name, and I've honestly really thought about that
>> > 'til now .
>>
>> That's because neither OS had a concept of hidden applications. It
>> doesn't even exist in Unity yet. But it exits in OS X and the
>> transparent hidden icons for the Dock is a frequently used option
>> there. Just google "defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool
>> YES" and check how many results you get.
>>
>>
>> > That is why I'm still convinced that my original idea is the best
>> > proposed solution so far. As Ed Lin pointed out it might be a problem in
>> > getting the launcher to react on hover, but wouldn't it benefit the UX
>> > (User
>> > Experience) greatly? Isn't it worth it?
>>
>> But please tell me one reason why increasing the visibility of the
>> background of running apps isn't just as good in terms of visibility
>> with the added benefit of being always visible, not just on hover,
>> i.e. more consistent and more usable.
>>
>> > Some didn't like that the icons greyed out completely and I understand
>> > that
>> > and that's why I proposed a configuration option for that. If we just
>> > take a
>> > look on how it would look like if it wasn't completely greyed out and
>> > only
>> > partially desaturated the idea might feel more approachable. That's why
>> > I
>> > created a new version of my previous mockup:
>> >
>> > http://i.imgur.com/3bajD.png
>>
>> Much better, but this still leaves above 2 questions.
>>
>> > Please just give it some reconsideration out of the UX-perspective. If
>> > this
>> > was an option then I feel that this would be enough to provide a start
>> > for a
>> > descent window centric workflow without removing the app-centric
>> > workflow
>> > out of the design.
>>
>> The problem of visible running apps has nothing to do with app-centric
>> workflow.
>> Again, your indicator is for running "applications", not running
>> "windows"!
>>
>> I've just sent a mail to the list
>> "What are the advantages of an application-centric interface?"
>>
>> It's gotten a tad bit long (sorry about that) but my main conclusion
>> was that the discussion app-centric vs. window-centric isn't all that
>> worthwhile and doesn't really help us improving Unity at this point.
>>
>> > And I don't really see a problem in adding the
>> > configuration options since people will want to be able to configure the
>> > launcher anyway, we can't take that out of the picture. Some want the
>> > launcher to be visible at all times and some want it to hide
>> > automatically.
>>
>> Additional "optional options" are a nice thing to have but the
>> priority is to first get the defaults right as good as we can.
>>
>> > I do understand that in practice we may find flaws with this design so I
>> > was
>> > thinking of maybe making a _javascript_ and HTML mockup in the browser.
>> > What are your thoughts?
>>
>> This is a great idea, I'm no good with JS so I can't help on that.
>>
>> > 2011/5/4 Niklas Rosenqvist <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >>
>> >> Is it really necessary to indicate which windows are hidden? I mean if
>> >> you
>> >> cannot see it you can assume that it's hidden or somewhere else. Even
>> >> if it
>> >> is hidden, it can still be accessed with alt+tab or super+("S" is it?
>> >> I'm
>> >> not on a Ubuntu machine at the moment) so there is a minimal practical
>> >> difference between a window being hidden or not. I'm using Windows 7
>> >> for
>> >> games and Adobe Creative Suite and what I can see they don't show which
>> >> applications are hidden.
>> >>
>> >> 2011/5/4 Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>
>> >>> Version 0.3:
>> >>> http://i.imgur.com/O7cfm.png
>> >>> Sorry...
>> >>>
>> >>> On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 3:23 PM, Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>> > On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 11:47 AM, Niklas Rosenqvist
>> >>> > <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>> >> Can't we continue the discussion here since we are already arguing
>> >>> >> here?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > I think we should split it then, change the subject to something
>> >>> > like
>> >>> > improving Unity for window-centric workflow (was: Idea for improving
>> >>> > visibility of running applications)
>> >>> >
>> >>> >> So what exactly is the mockup showing? Is the wider background box
>> >>> >> showing
>> >>> >> the currently focused application and FF and TB are hidden? Please
>> >>> >> provide
>> >>> >> us with further explaining of what is what in the mockup since the
>> >>> >> left
>> >>> >> launcher is already a configurable option in CCSM. One thing I
>> >>> >> noted
>> >>> >> immediately is the lack of the subtle background boxes in the right
>> >>> >> launcher. I don't think that is a good idea since those boxes gives
>> >>> >> uniformity to the launcher between the different states when a
>> >>> >> squared
>> >>> >> icon
>> >>> >> set isn't used. I don't think it would work well with the default
>> >>> >> icon
>> >>> >> set.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > FF/TB and banshee show two different possible solution for running
>> >>> > applications: a light thin highlight around the icons or a larger
>> >>> > rectangle background. I didn't show any mockup for hidden apps. The
>> >>> > background boxes are more a matter of taste, it works well without
>> >>> > them for those square icons but it could work for all I think (look
>> >>> > at
>> >>> > the Windows and OS X "docks"). But I'm open to that, though at least
>> >>> > I'd get rid of the highlights at the top and bottom and make them
>> >>> > more
>> >>> > bland to increase the difference between highlighted running and
>> >>> > non-highlighted not running apps.
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Here's a new mockup that hopefully answers your points:
>> >>> > http://i.imgur.com/L55Yk.png
>> >>> > In case of Design B all background boxes would need to have the same
>> >>> > size as the color background.
>> >>> >
>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
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>> >
>>
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>
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