Re: [Ayatana] Unity interface - my Beta review and proposals

[zekopeko <zekopeko@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think you are using the wrong terminology here. The left dock with
the application icons is called the Launcher. Global Menu would be the
actually "File Edit ..." menu that is right of the Ubuntu/window
buttons.

I agree that the launcher is taking space and it adversely affecting
my user experience. I'm mostly online on this netbook and Youtube
having a horizontal borders isn't nice. -Especially because for some
reason the left side of a website (when there is a horizontal
scrollbar present) doesn't have margins.

On Fri, Sep 10, 2010 at 7:20 PM, Michael Jonker
<citizen.jonker@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have been Beta testing the new Unity UNE interface for the last few
> days and am excited about its potential as a multiple format device
> front for Ubuntu, especially touch devices. Praise apart, I am going to
> jump straight into critique of the UI, which was filed as a bug report
> here:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/633073
>
> The huge effort into juicing as much vertical real estate as possible is
> notable. This should not be the only priority - all real estate on small
> devices is crucial, thus the omnipresence of the Global Menu for me is a
> problem. In desktop mode or browsing system menus - fine. When an app is
> open and I am trying to be productive - never. There has been much
> discussion about how to autohide the Global menu, but I feel this is not
> the simplest solution.
>
> My other opinion is that real estate should not override the issue of
> accessibility. Access to apps and system functions should be through the
> shortest route possible. There should be no duplicate routes which offer
> access to  similar but different usability. At present this is most
> noticeable in the different approaches to where the Ubuntu button and
> the Application Launcher global button takes you. They are almost the
> same thing - but not quite.
>
> The desktop -as far as real estate is concerned - is a barren wasteland.
> The user can't use it for anything, it is just there taking up space
> when you start your computer. Why not use this and present the whole
> system map on one page? When an application does not have focus, the
> user is always back on that page. It works on good website designs, it
> works on smart phones, so why not do the same for small format devices?
>
> To debate these issues, I have attached two wireframe sketches of how I
> feel Unity can evolve.
>
> Looking forward to everyone's thoughts,
>
> Michael
>
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