unity-design team mailing list archive

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 8:58 AM, Shane Fagan
<shanepatrickfagan@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I have a hard to explain idea so read it and ask questions if you
> don't understand what I mean :)
>
> I was looking at the stuff in the menu bars of applications and I was
> wondering if there is something you use a lot would there be any way
> to make it easier to access. So I was thinking logging frequently
> clicked menu bar items and putting them on the top of the list. So it
> would be like
> […]

So, this is all about making menus a little more succinct and easy to
navigate. I think it's curiously parallel to what toolbars should be
(and mostly are).

A menu collects every function in an application using a predictable
structure, while the toolbar should have the stuff that is generally
important to the task at hand. Some go as far as being customizable,
but generally it is assumed an app developer's best judgement will
work here. Unfortunately, lots of toolbars in GNOME are filled with
New / Open / Save / Save As / Select All / Cut / Copy / Paste / Help,
leaving no space for that stuff which is actually useful and you don't
know to look for in the menu. (Besides, if you look at a toolbar and
see all those redundant things, what is the chance you'll keep looking
to find the one or two useful things?)

Rather than add another function that tries to do what toolbars should
be doing, I think we should look into making toolbars useful. Let's
find a way to address the broken design before adding something on top
:)


Dylan