unity-design team mailing list archive

[Scott Kitterman <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"David Siegel" <david.siegel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>I think maximize, minimize, and close are taken for granted -- they're
>unquestioned assumptions carried over from a dusty desktop computing past.
>Frankly, I'm not convinced that any of these buttons are worth the price
>paid by users in time spent thinking about how to arrange their windows.


In KDE's Plasma Netbook (used in Kubuntu Netbook Remix), it's been done away with. This buys back some vertical space for the useful part of the application. 

Windows are maximized by default (small screens).  There is a control on the panel (it's on top for netbooks in KDE) that lets you switch windows,  close windows,  and toggle full screen/not full screen.  There is no minimize option. 

This seems to work really well.  So I agree the traditional paradigm is getting worn. 

Scott K