unity-design team mailing list archive

["frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx" <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:35, Mark Shuttleworth <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>  On 22/12/10 04:53, Frederik Nnaji wrote:
>
> On Tue, 2010-12-21 at 17:10 +0100, zekopeko wrote:
>
>
>  I think that a decent solution for 11.04 would be to create a
> temporary workspace for the fullscreen app so that it shows in the
> Expo (Workspace switcher) mode but once the app is un-fullscreen-ed it
> would return to the workspace from which it originated (no fancy
> animation transitions). Alt-Tab-ing while the fullscreen app is
> focused would tab-between workspaces and not applications. If you
> alt-tab while a non-fullscreen applications is focused (so you can see
> the launcher and the panel) would tab between applications that are
> currently open and the fullscreen apps.
>
>
> they removed ALT+F2, so i'm not even sure they'll keep ALT+TAB.
>
>
> Alt-F2 is just not yet implemented, it's filed as a bug and will get fixed.
> Of course we'll retain Alt-TAB!
>

oops, ok, i shoulda looked in launchpad first! thanks for the wake-up-call
;)

 *Close, MaxVert, Fullscreen Mode*
> in a recent thread, i suggested to add a button to the window controls:
> fullscreen. This, because many users don't even know what fullscreen mode
> is, except for in movie players.. they learn it on youtube, where there is a
> more than obvious "fullscreen" button, and start looking for such a button
> in totem, vlc etc..
>
>
> The issue then is to figure out how to get OUT of fullscreen :-)
>

with F11 for keyboard, and with a client side control for mouse.
All apps that i know of do it that way, e.g. OOo, Firefox, Chromium etc.


> The approach we are taking is reversible gestures, where a particular
> gesture gets you into a fullscreen situation, and reversing the gesture (I
> wave my hands furiously ;-)) gets you out.
>

That's a scalable concept, the right direction, i believe.

F11 to enable/disable Fullscreen Mode is reversible, but that's only
Keyboard.
Nevertheless, the implementation must happen inside the client, as far as i
understand the logic and command hierarchy of this. A client e.g. that
doesn't support full screen should never accept F11 in the first place!
Another thing about client side Fullscreen Mode design is that every client
will choose a different way to focus on content in Fullscreen mode.
Fullscreen Mode is so much more than the name gives to us:
it is actually the one mode, in which an application reduces its buttonry
and chrome clutter to an absolute minimum to focus on the most essential
functionality.
In a movie player e.g. this would be the moving picture, no mouse, no
buttons at all, no thing else.
I call that "Theatre Mode".
In a photo viewer it's pretty much the same.
Apps will need to decide for themselves, how they would like to appear in
Fullscreen Mode. I know Compiz can maximize every window to fill the screen,
but that is not the same experience.
"hide panels + remove window decoration + maximize" is not the same as
entering an application-specific Fullscreen Mode.

Now that this is established, we can safely assume that the clients will add
their own reversible way of leaving Fullscreen Mode with via mouse.
Especially so, because it might be convenient to exit fullscreen in one
applications by clicking an overlay in the top right corner, in an other
application it might be much more convenient to place that control into the
middle of the screen. That's why picking reversible gestures for activating
and deactivating Fullscreen Mode is not the DE's or the WM's issue, it is a
design task for the respective clients.


>  *Floating Indicators*
> One could think of single icons popping up upon transient events top right
> corner of a fullscreen window, provided i'm not set to "do not disturb".
> But the visibility of single icons popping up above whatever content is
> beneath them is low.
> WingPanel is an excellent option here, it would only have to be
> transparent, and it would have to know when it is above the content area of
> an application in fullscreen mode.
>
>
> Yes, there are some interesting ideas in wingpanel, and I'd encourage
> experimentation and discussion here.
>

WingPanel rocks, and i have gnome-panel on autohide bottom right,
expand=FALSE, since i have wingpanel running.
If only it were semi-transparent!
I'd want to get rid of the clock, too. I can't help the feeling, the clock
belongs somewhere else than in my main indicator interaction zone..