unity-design team mailing list archive

[Arian van Gend <arianvg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Spike,

I agree on all your points, but I do have some refinements.

2) Drag and drop in the Mutter version of Unity was implemented, but you
couldn't grab an icon and drag it straight down or up. You had to pull the
icon from the launcher a bit and then move it up or down. If you pull it
away further, it would opt for removal of the icon instead.
Whilst I think the removal part makes perfect sense, I don't agree with
having to pull an icon out to place it somewhere else.
I think one should be able to pull it down or up directly (doing this in the
Mutter version pulls the content of the whole launcher up or down, which I
think is annoying and useless behaviour, especially combined with it's
folding capacity and the fact that a launcher that is packed with icons
isn't usable anymore - there's no visual grouping so finding your icon
becomes hard).
To make sure that people who have problems with mice can operate clicking
and dragging, the amount of movement before a drag is considered should be
reasonably large (say more than half an icon height/width away). This gives
some leeway for clicking, and still enables fast and smooth dragging.
For the removal act, I think we should interpret it as a removal act when
the icon is pulled completely from the launcher. If it is still on it a bit,
consider it a click.
These drag zones can be made more clear by changing colour and maybe getting
an icon (and having the mouse pointer change when you go over it).

3) I agree that the colour seems to indicate inactivity (and interfere
somewhat by having less contrast), but I do feel that they should have a
unique appearance. So of the top of my head, I'd say we may be able to show
them with a different background colour than the other icons or maybe (in
the spirit of the workspace mock-up) inside a different coloured block.

Here's one further thought I had:
Currently, searching is not covered with a short-cut key, so it can't be
reached really fast. In the spirit of gnome-do and other launchers, it seems
prudent to make the Windows/super key take you to the Dash (as the top left
Ubuntu button already does), with the focus on the search field. Also, the
current search should be made faster as it is currently quite slow. Doing
this enables a user to reach and operate search with one button, which is
quite powerful, and every one on their way to becoming an perpetual
intermediate (About face) will find it. To strengthen finding this action, I
suggest to display a tool-tip on every button with a short-cut key with the
short-cut in bold text (or maybe a button graphic with clear symbols on
them) to enable findability.
To make search results even faster to get through, I suggest enabling the
arrow keys to go through them and make tab to the next category of results.
This should also be really fast and obviously findable for a user.

All these suggestions will help users on the path to becoming a perpetual
intermediate, which is what one should aim for with a UI in my opinion.

2010/11/14 Spike Burch <spikeb@xxxxxxxxx>

Hi,
>
> My name is Spike. I am not trained in usability, but rather self
> taught, so feel free to correct any misconceptions I may post. That
> said, I am keenly interested in usability (hence joining this mailing
> list), and have read extensively about it. Always game for more
> reading materials if anyone has any suggestions!
>
> Moving along to my random thoughts/suggestions on Unity (inspired in
> part by the post on the Canonical design blog about Unity's usability
> testing):
>
> 1) Make the minimize action point to the icons on the panel, instead
> of having windows simply fade from existence. This will show users
> where the application went, and should lead to the discovery of the
> expose` action
>
> 2) Give the side panel drag n drop (I read somewhere this is coming)
> for adding/removing launchers
>
> 3) Make the files/folders, applications, trash, and removable device
> icons colored. The current white icons sends the signal that these
> icons are inactive.
>
>
> That is pretty much all I can think of for now. Hope I am not being
> redundant.
>
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