dx-packages team mailing list archive

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anyway. You make an interesting point that with the app indicator menus
there is no longer a consistent method to show the app window.

I don't claim this problem is non-existent. However, I do think that any
new inconsistency is much less than the new consistency from treating
all indicators as menus.

This is because an app may have multiple equally plausible windows to
show. For example, Tomboy might show you its list of notes for searching
or browsing, or it might show you a window for creating a new note. I'd
expect "show the app window" to do the former, but the latter would
probably be more useful.

The most likely windows to show might not even be windows of the same
app. For example, Dropbox might open the Dropbox folder, which is not a
Dropbox app window, it's a file manager window. Or it might open the
Dropbox Web site, which is also not a Dropbox app window, it's a browser
window.

With indicator menus, all these possibilities are crystal clear, because
they are all menu items. ("Search All Notes", "Create New Note", "Open
Dropbox Folder", and "Launch Dropbox Website", respectively.) Any
slowdown from opening the menu is more than compensated for by reduced
dither from wondering what clicking will do.

Your example of the keyboard indicator is an even better one, because in
that case there is no obvious "app" that the menu belongs to. The menu
does contain items that open windows: "Character Map", "Keyboard Layout
Chart", and "Text Entry Settings…". Those open windows from three
different apps, and it's not clear that any of them is more important
than the others. Again, having them all as menu items makes them clear.

** Changed in: indicator-application
       Status: Triaged => Invalid

** Changed in: indicator-application (Ubuntu)
       Status: Triaged => Invalid

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/531244

Title:
  Indicator applets breaks usability

Status in Application Indicators:
  Invalid
Status in “indicator-application” package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  When the apps used notification area applets they were quite
  consistent: left click to show app window, right click to options.
  Today there is no "show" action but only options (looks different from
  the rest of the apps too). So, in order to show application window
  user need to find a point in a menu then activate it. But,
  unfortunately, these "menu points" are in different positions for
  different apps, this breaks usability.

  BTW, "show window" always was the most used action for most apps. Was
  there any research that proved current indicator approach is better
  usable than old one? Personally, I'm very doubt about it, especially
  after new "keyboard indicator" applet.

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