unity-design team mailing list archive

[Michael Jonker <citizen.jonker@xxxxxxxxx>]

A tricky one!

I have the beginning of an idea for this in a sketch I posted one thread
down. It could lie on the desktop wall, the same as the other
'background apps' are. When it gets the focus it renders above
everything else. Clicking anywhere outside of the calculator minimises
it back to the wall. When it is active, everything else is slightly
greyed out.

There are loads of other issues to think about. The big one is how to
make it work in portrait mode and what is the transition between
portrait/ landscape.

There is also a lot of potential for radical ideas (I am not a
programmer, so talk is easy :D )

How about if the whole GUI was rendered through HTML5 and CSS? This has
potential for an almost 'instant on' GUI after network and web services
have loaded. The rest of the system resources could start up in the
background, giving priority to user web activity. A  red indicator light
somewhere on the screen could go green and fade away to let the user
know that all services are now available. This simplifies the current
approach of having to choose between 'quick' or 'full' mode at start-up.
I think that starting in quick mode will quickly be followed by a user
desire to be in full mode. Having to restart then will be an annoyance.

On Mon, 2010-09-13 at 11:38 -0400, Sohail Mirza wrote:

> Fantastic mockup Michael.  :)  I can only echo the kudos being given
> by the others.
> 
> One question:  In this scenario of "expose mode, maximized window, and
> nothing else", how will smaller windowed applicatoins like the
> Calculator be handled?  In Meerkat I notice that the Calculator cannot
> even be maximized, and no doubt it would look rather strange when
> maximized.
> 
> Thanks and keep the ideas coming!
> 
> Sohail Mirza
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 5:20 AM, Michael Jonker
> <citizen.jonker@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>         I have put up an interactive mock up of some of the ways I
>         feel Unity
>         can evolve here:
>         
>         http://www.reviveyourpc.ie/unity/welcome.html
>         
>         Give each screen a bit of time to cache - it is just linked
>         html.
>         
>         The key features are:
>         
>               * Fully navigable by mousepad tap (therefore screen
>         touch)
>               * Desktop is utilised productively
>               * Only two modes - 1)Application open  2)System GUI root
>         and
>                 quickaccess exposed.
>               * Apps get maximum real estate
>         
>         For the mock up - in application mode - switching is done by
>         clicking on
>         the Ubuntu logo @ top left. This could be a mouse gesture or
>         hover-over
>         in reality. On touch it could be a shake of the device
>         optional to
>         touching the logo.
>         
>         If anybody wants to tinker, I have put the Gimp file for the
>         screens here:
>         
>         http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1306731/Unity.xcf
>         
>         Michael
>         
>         
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> sfm