unity-design team mailing list archive

[Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx>]

> I don't feel their argument for getting rid of the Minimize button
> applies to Unity. It works great for Gnome, but we still have
> somewhere to minimize windows to in Unity, thus the Minimize button
> has a point.

Several problems here:

1) The "somewhere to minimize to" was only *one* of the arguments,
and not even the main one. The Shell has always been designed
without taking minimization into consideration, for encouraging
the use of workspaces to organize clutter. The fact that the
Shell didn't have such place in its final form was more of an
argument to forget about bringing minimization back, for legacy
purposes, than to actually removing it in the first place.

2) Gnome could've used the Shell Dash perfectly to hold minimized
applications if this "place" argument was the only one. In fact,
ever since the Unity launcher got autohide there isn't much
difference between the two with respect to this purpose.

3) The "somewhere to minimize windows" in the Unity launcher is
a single icon for multiple application windows that uses Expose
for switching. Fitting minimization in this would imply

  a) not including minimized windows in the Expose, creating
     situations where either Expose gets in the way of
     restoring or vice-versa

  b) including minimized windows in the Expose, effectively
     either annoying people who minimize windows to temporarily
     remove them from the workflow or making you question what
     was the purpose of minimizing in the first place

This could be solved by showing minimized windows in the Expose
with less priority, like miniaturized or in icon form. OSX does
this. However, Mark said once in this list that he wants
minimized windows to appear full-fledged in the Expose, so
we are dealing with (b)

Unity will ship a form of minimization that is unfamiliar and
with questionable usefulness. I'm not sure if this is better
than not shipping at all. :)

> And, three buttons provides a natural feel and is aesthetically
> pleasing. You can't get that unless you go down to one; two won't
> work.

This is largely irrelevant since I'm still defending killing
minimization but... what? From where this remarkable certitude
on such a subjective matter, that does not even require any
kind of justification, came from? :)