unity-design team mailing list archive

[Luke Benstead <kazade@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 12 March 2010 14:26, Siegfried Gevatter <rainct@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 2010/3/12 David Balch <david@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
>> Please could the design team explain the rationale for moving the
>> window control buttons from the right to the left, and the benefits
>> expected to result.
>
> http://www.ivankamajic.com/?p=281
>
> (I don't like them at all on the left, btw.)
>

There's no rationale for the change in that blog post, just 100+
comments of testers wanting them moved back.

And it finishes with this:

"Is it better or worse?

It is quite hard to tell."

and

"Personally, I would have the max and min on the left and close on the right."

Which would at least be a more usable position than the current one.

Scott's blog post[1] mentions some of the many reasons why this change
is a bad idea, yet I haven't seen a single reason for why it's a good
idea.

So to reiterate the question, what is the rationale for such a
disruptive change? Is it just an experiment that will be reverted
before beta?

Luke.

P.S. Further reading:

[1] http://yokozar.org/blog/archives/194
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1422422
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/23899/
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/poll-do-you-want-ubuntu-window-controls.html
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/03/easy-gui-window-button-switcher-for.html
http://jonathancarter.co.za/2010/03/12/purple-vs-orange/