unity-design team mailing list archive

[Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx>]

> I had filed a bug report on this issue:
> https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-applet/+bug/519553
> I, too, have seen the negative effects of it at this point. It hasn't
> been as pronounced as my original doomsday prediction, but it is
> troubling.
> 
> To be honest I'm not totally happy with Ted's decision on that bug
> report, so now is definitely a good time to initiate some more
> chattering. For Maverick, there is time to fix the problem, and I am
> sure people here can come up with lots of options.
> 
> Two come to mind for me:
> 
> We seem to be stuck with Gnome Panel and its quirks for a while yet.
> So, as a first solution that would magically fix everything (except
> Bonobo, and the part where applets are positioned with absolute screen
> coordinates), I think it would be pretty nice if that thing's horrific
> approach for placing panel applets was revised. I filed an enhancement
> on just that upstream:
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=616244
> (Strangely it does not seem to be a duplicate).
> It's fairly simple on paper: instead of always being in a mode where
> applets can be moved, give the entire panel a toggleable Edit mode.
> Edit mode could just show handles and the relevant Move / Remove menu
> items for each applet.
> The stuff for locking applets to the panel would be completely
> eradicated in the process. If someone is in edit mode, he probably
> wants to move whatever panel applets he tells to move. If he isn't, he
> doesn't want them to move anywhere for any reason.
> A fancier implementation could capture mouse events over each applet
> in Edit mode, so a left click anywhere on an applet would then drag
> it, for example.
> 
> The notification area _is_ being phased out. Unfortunately it's still
> there on Maverick desktop…
> For another solution, maybe the indicator applet could also provide
> the notification area for this release. It may be possible to embed
> that exact applet using Bonobo, rather than complicate the very
> elegant code base. Of course the indicator applet wouldn't need to
> draw a handle for that notification area, since it's a fixed part of
> the indicator applet itself. Then the notification area would normally
> be completely invisible, appearing only when it's in action.
> 
> Now the indicator applet would be able to draw a handle of its own
> without feeling self-conscious, and finally do away with that cursed
> right click menu!


One observation: Gnome Shell will have System Status Indicators and the
Gnome developers seem to agree that "the icons should behave as if they
are part of a menu-bar" and "icons can be clicked with any mouse button
but should always perform the same action no matter what button is
used." [1] Furthermore, they will do away with panel applets. This
implies two things:

1) If Ubuntu and its indicators eventually move to Gnome-Shell, this
will most likely become a non-issue.

2) While such moving does not happen, we shouldn't expect much
cooperation from Gnome upstream for improving the Gnome 2 panel, as it
is not part of their vision for Gnome 3. It will be maintained, but not
much focus will be on its improvement.

However, good news is that the panel is not being *abandoned* either, as
good progress is being made in making it Bonobo-free. [2]

[1] http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Design/Guidelines/SystemStatus

[2] https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=572131