unity-design team mailing list archive

[Michael Jonker <citizen.jonker@xxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with you Mark,

People seeing what apps are running at a glance is a huge priority.
Killing horizontal real estate with the Global menu is not the solution.
Turning the Global menu into an autohide dock is only a workaround to a
problem.

On my 1440x900 laptop I use edge triggers with Compiz to bring up the
desktop wall - this is exactly the principle which Unity's workspace
button functions. To add to that, background apps in Unity have an icon
in the global menu. This is all fantastic stuff.

Getting to all that good stuff is the design challenge.

What I am proposing is that there are only ever 2 modes in Unity: 
     1. Your app is open. It uses every micron of real estate possible
        for your work area. 
     2. You are in your desktop. EVERYTHING on the system is clearly
        presented and navigable in an intuitive way.

That leaves the issue of switching between the 2. 

So, you are working away on your thesis in Open Office. It occupies the
whole screen. You also have your calculator and a few other things open.
Depending on your device you do one (or any) of the following:
 
     1. Click on the Ubuntu Button @ top left 
     2. Move your mouse to top left as a gesture (the concentrated real
        estate area reserved for closing, minimising and switching) 
     3. Slide the screen away with your finger for touchscreen 
     4. Maybe even give your touch device a shake?

This reveals your default desktop with 'workspaces' activated. You can
now not only see all your open apps clearly, switch apps from the
workspaces or global menu, access your files, switch to a external
display, search for anything, lock the computer, etc, etc without
wondering 'how do I get there again?' Everything is upfront, intuative
and clear.

I will add some sketches on how I see this working, but I have to tile
the bathroom this weekend!

Basically - Unity already has all the goodness built in. It just needs
to be evolved into something that is so obvious that Bill Gates or my
granny, after turning it on for the first time, can understand the whole
workflow instantly and find everything they may need quickly.

On top of that it needs to run on the most simple of devices, for
example the $35 tablet, reliably - so no fancy hiding and animation
effects for the core functionality.

On Fri, 2010-09-10 at 15:37 -0400, Mark Curtis wrote:
> I'm glad you provided mockups and don't simply say you dislike
> something without providing alternatives.
> I'm not too familiar with Unity as I haven't been testing it, but I
> have seen screenshots. So I can't really comment on the Default
> Desktop mockup you've made.
> I feel your suggestion for the Application Menu uses all available
> screen real estate at the cost of running into the same common
> criticism of GNOME Shell.
> People like seeing what apps are running at a glance. Also having to
> click something to open up the list of applications increases mouse
> clicks and (if you want to be pedantic saying it would work on hover),
> mouse movement when switching applications .
> 
> From: citizen.jonker@xxxxxxxxx
> To: ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:20:37 +0100
> Subject: [Ayatana] Unity interface - my Beta review and proposals
> 
> 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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