unity-design team mailing list archive

[Ryan Prior <ryanprior@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 8:48 AM, Kevin Liao <kevinliao96@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Apart from "making Ubuntu look good", what is the
> argument behind making the menu so obscure?
> --Kevin Liao

It really isn't a problem for a power-user like myself - I have
basically memorized the (hidden) menu item positions for the apps I
use frequently, so I don't "miss" and have to re-correct when I make
my fitts-law reach for the bookmarks menu. However, it's a big problem
for users who have little confidence in themselves. It's not obvious
that there are any menu items or where they are, and in fact it takes
a user interaction (moving the mouse to the top of the screen or
holding down, not just pressing, ALT) to show them. The interface is
(FAR) less discoverable, and thus less useful.

I propose that the file menu be shown and window title be hidden by
default in full-screen mode, at least. When you are using one window
that takes up the whole screen, knowing its name is never important.
The only time the window name changes is when you're using the web
browser, and browsers show the name at least twice - once in the tab
bar and once in the window title. The title is only necessary for
distinguishing tabs and locating pages in a search engine or window
list, so showing the title instead of the menu bar doesn't make sense.

For some applications, the new menu bar system is stupid. For example,
if I've just selected a tool in The GIMP and I now want to access the
program's menu bar, I am presented with nothing when I move my mouse
to the top of the screen. Being the adaptable and forgiving individual
I am, I have no problem investigating and finding out that I need to
return focus to the main window before using the menu bar; but a less
confident and adaptable designer using The GIMP will be confused by
the pointless disappearance of the menu bar.

Finally, I want to know what in the world touch users are supposed to
do when they want to select a menu item. I don't have a touch-capable
device to test with, so if somebody on the touch side of things could
explain that one to me, perhaps this would be more clear.

Thanks to the Ayatana folks for your consideration,
Ryan