unity-design team mailing list archive

[Gian <zappete@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everybody,
that's my first time posting here, so hi! :)

I think the proposed solutions of a 2-sided launcher have a great advantage
over the current implementation: currently on large monitors the places
shortcuts may end well below the dash, because the launcher is full of apps.
This spatial separation hides their connection to the dash. Showing them on
top when the dash is open stresses their role of dash places shortcuts.

I couldn't resist to draw my own mockup: instead of flipping the launcher,
you could make the Places Shortcuts drop down from above when the dash is
displayed (see attachment).

the advantage i see is that one is still able to perform window management
tasks (such as switching to some window) while the dash is open. I think
that this is really crucial, because it means that one can have full control
on both the dash and the launcher just by pressing <Super>. This also makes
it less important to learn the differences between the launcher and the
dash: after all, they both allow you to launch applications.
Moreover, with the current "fade and slide on bfb" animation, the user may
be tempted to *click* on the bfb, instead of reaching the top-left corner,
in order to display the launcher. It would be  disappointing for him/her to
find out that all the apps have just gone away from it!
Also note that I left Trash, Removable Devices and Workspaces at the bottom,
because they are not related to the dash and do not need to stay close to
it.
The advantage of not displaying the places shortcuts on top all the time is
that people will likely (and hopefully :) start to code tons of custom
places (People, IMDb, ...), each with its shortcut. Moreover, it's nice to
have the most used application (say, the web browser) at the top, easily
recognizable, when you start your computer: especially for new users!

By the way, I really like how Unity is shaping up: I miss it when I switch
back to 10.10 ;)

Best,
Gian

Attachment: unityshortcuts.png
Description: PNG image