unity-design team mailing list archive

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

On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 17:41, Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> > Sounds cool. Unfortunately you didn't attach anything :)
>

the classic!

liking the mockup!
it shows that one can do a lot with the exposé view.. there was also talk
about adding a visible "close" button, when "scale addons" are enabled, so
that one could actually discover that feature better. a lot can be done to
make the scale plugin in compiz really bring a new quality of experience to
the desktop.

now what about minimizing windows?
i remember windows for workgroups, there was nothing like a window list,
minimizing was synonymous to "iconifying" an application.
somehow, people were also not so stuck with the "window" metaphor, we
thought in "programs".
so you could open a program, aka "run" it, then you could minimize aka
iconify it back into its icon within the "program manger" or onto the
desktop.
pretty simple, isn't it?

now, with the window list (instead of program list, which would make more
sense imo), we minimize to window list or to notification area, but why?
most of the times i minimized a program, i was secretly hoping for it to
just disappear and hand all the display space and window list space back to
me, so that i could just make it reappear magically when i needed it again,
much later.
It's a remember and forget type of thing: some applications should be there
so you can use them here and now, others should continue running in the
background.

what i would have wished for back then is the behaviour that rhythmbox,
banshee, empathy and iirc transmission exert nowadays:
close window = hide window.

Minimize should be deprecated, because it was a workaround for "hide"
window", which would have been a non-reversible gesture without tools like
docky or the unity launcher now, or the window list back then. Minimize is a
synonym for "iconify", now list to me the situations in which you want a
program main window to be iconified onto a certain part of the screen?!