unity-design team mailing list archive

[Marc Lajoie <manorapide@xxxxxxxxx>]

If I had to name my big three problems with Unity it would be: 1) the
uselessness of the Ubuntu button 2) The fact that the "function" buttons
(places, virtual desktops, trash) are mixed in with the application buttons
in the dock 3) that Unity, which started out very touch friendly, is
becoming less so as it evolves.

If I had a say (which I don't), I'd have a "two-sided" dock: on one side,
the application buttons, on the other, the "function" buttons. The Ubuntu
button would flip the dock over (perhaps with a pretty revolving
animation!). See the attached mockup.

Of course, if the dock is hidden, the first click will recall it. The second
click will flip the dock.

It might seem to waste time to have the extra click to get to the function
buttons, but I think it comes to the same as having to hunt through the
application buttons in the dock to find them.

It would also be a much more touch-friendly. Touchscreen users will be able
to recall the hidden dock by pressing the Ubuntu button. Mark Shuttleworth
mentioned that the Ubuntu button is not a good touch target, but presumably
at some point the panel is going to have to be vertically resizable, esp.
since the window controls are up there, and touch people will have to be
able to use those, too. For themes with larger window controls (pretty much
necessary for touch enabled devices) the panel will need to grow to
accomodate them. Presumably the Ubuntu button will grow accordingly, making
it a proper touch target.

I think this solution addresses all three of my concerns, and makes Unity
much more touch-friendly (esp. for single-touch devices) as well as
organized.

My two cents!

Attachment: mymockup1.png
Description: PNG image