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

[Niklas Rosenqvist <niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx>]

Since this doesn't seem to be the best solution for everyone I hope we can work together on making a new design sketch which works. I will try a few different approaches and I hope that people will pitch in with their own ideas. Thanks guys for your feedback!

2011/5/6 Jamu Kakar <jkakar@xxxxxxxx>

Hi Niklas,,

On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 6:40 PM, 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

Thanks for putting this together!  Something I find a bit awkward with
Unity, in general, is that a number of things change as you move your
mouse.  For example, in stock Unity the launcher slides around
(depending on whether you have a maximized window), the global menu
appears or disappears as you move your mouse near the top of the
screen, and the orange window outline around windows does weird things
when you move a window aroud.

I find these behaviours rather confusing and distracting.  The mockup
you've made adds to this noise.  When you hover the launcher, it looks
like everything gets disabled and I wonder if I can really click the
icons... then when I mous away it comes back to life.  I think it's
the opposite to what I expected.

Anyway, it's great to be able to see an idea in action, thanks for
taking the time to do this.

Thanks,
J.