Re: [Ayatana] Making workspaces great (branched from "Farewell to the notification area")

[Tyler Brainerd <tylerbrainerd@xxxxxxxxx>]

sorry, forgot a bit. you could even implement this to the point of, rather then having the links of the messenging menu open the app over the current workspace instead be the email layer selector itself.

i'll get to work on some mockups to explain this a little better.

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 1:38 AM, Tyler Brainerd <tylerbrainerd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

While I like the basic concept, there are going to be severe limits. First off, what about vertical desktops? I have a 2x 2 setup, and its worked wonders for me for keeping organized. I personally can't stand the stick em all in the line organization. Secondly, do we want to implement adding workspaces on the fly? Third, I think the basic functionality here, while certainly not bad, will be very neatly coded by Google Chrome OS and in Gnome-Shell, to the point of why bother starting from scratch.

However, "Second, am I the only one here annoyed at the fact that

there is a *huge* waste of space in the middle of the top panel? This
would be a very good and use of it."

Absolutely. I've never seen a monitor small enough that the top panel is used well. UNR has hit on something special with the maximize program (I forget the name. maxumize? max-something?) and i think a better use of the visible panel would be to perhaps have 2 or 3 visible. One for your current workspace, and then one or maybe two permanent, on every workspace, tab. These could function similarly to widget-layers for email, IM, music, or similar type things. So for a 2x2 workspace, on eace, 1,2,3, and 4, the workspace itself is the first tab, and then common to all workspaces are the second two.

On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 1:27 AM, Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> It's a good point. The workspaces experience has languished, and I'd
> like for us to climb in and improve it substantially. At the moment, we
> do a half-hearted job - we ship what's there but as you say, only
> configure two workspaces. I'd be inclined to say "ship without
> workspaces" so that we are at least definitive about the position for
> the moment.
>
> I'd welcome a discussion about how we could make workspaces *great*. If
> we can do that, then we would make more of them. And your contribution
> above is a useful start: great workspaces give you easy access to some
> apps regardless of the workspace you happen to be in.

I'd love that discussion too. :)

A tabbed system like Robin mentioned sounds very nice to me for two
reasons: first, it's very familiar as tabbed browsers are nearly
ubiquitous now. Second, am I the only one here annoyed at the fact that
there is a *huge* waste of space in the middle of the top panel? This
would be a very good and use of it.

Brainstorming a little bit, I think a very nice way to visually show
workspaces this way would be extending the wallpaper to the tabs.
See the (ugly) mockup I'm attaching here, what you guys think?

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