unity-design team mailing list archive

[Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 8:52 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist
<niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Seriously aren't you understanding what we've been talking about? Most of us
> agree on that the current implementation is working fine for the default
> Ubuntu installation but Ubuntu is very open when it comes to configuration
> and it is one of it's strength's. That's why users can easily change icon
> sets and for some icon sets the default way of showing running applications
> isn't clear enough and that is why we want an option to turn on the fading
> of inactive icons when the launcher is hovered to easily see what's running.
> Since so many users are customizing the Ubuntu desktop I think it's vital to
> have the Launcher versatile so that it works for as many people as possible.
> Please refer to the mockup I linked to earlier and take a look on how it
> looks with the Faenza icon pack.

So you want a better indicator that works with those Faenza  icons,
nothing more? What's wrong with adding a new simple glow effect option
in CCSM?

Your feature request goes beyond a simple option, it introduces a
completely new launcher behavior (it now can change on mouse hover),
and as I outlined already, it doesn't work too well.

About options in general:
On 02/05/11 23:57, Evan Huus wrote:
> I'm not sure that would work very well: the default launcher would end
> up this ugly grey strip since no programs are run when you first log
> on. As an user-selected option it might be ok though.

This really sums it up best. I cringe when I read this and it's
symptomatic for a lot of things.
At least it says "might".

It's not OK to make an option that while it solves one particular
problem introduces more new problems. Such option is completely
pointless. If you want such particular feature you could write a CCSM
plugin, patch the launcher or use/write an alternative dock but I
really don't think this mailing list is the place to discuss options
for fringe scenarios. Coming up with a visual indicator that works
better for different icon sets or even a better default launcher is.
What you suggested is a far reaching, non-default behavior "option"
and I still fail to see the point of it.