unity-design team mailing list archive

[Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Niklas Rosenqvist
<niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  Like the many
> applications showing system information like "RAM: 50%, CPU: 70%" which the
> user wants to be able to see at all times without opening a lens from the
> launcher.

That's nothing most users are interested in keeping always visible.
I'm certainly what you'd consider a power user and I've played with
most WMs. DEs or tools like conky that exist on any platform. Yet I
always come back to minimizing clutter and reduce everything to the
stuff that really matters.

> (An even better example is the system time)
Which would be shown in my solution


> I believe that the most commonly used function will be the one easiest to
> target and since all these items are located relatively close the
> corner/edge I think that this won't have such a big usability impact,
> correct me if I'm wrong.

The difference between buttons on the edge and buttons next to it is huge.

>> You need to add some visual separation in any
>> case which means you'll lost quite some space no matter the design.
> Does it really need to be separated more than it is in my design? This is
> the design in full HD resolution and I think it's pretty clear what's what:
> http://i.imgur.com/biN5v.png

This is certainly also a matter of taste but to me it doesn't look
"right", there's too much going on. You also have to keep in mind the
whole desktop and the Unity desktop very sparingly makes use of small
text fonts. Your design simply doesn't fit in - IMHO.

> The reason that I have based my design on the Win7 task bar notification
> area is that it provides easy access to the information you want to be able
> to see quickly, e.g. date and time. And these won't be shown with your
> design.

I think I haven't properly described my design. My design would show
all these informations, within a "box", on second though I'd scrap the
idea of using the same design as app icons and instead use thinner
margins so we get more space. My idea is essentially similar to yours,
the difference is that I'd group several "icons" together into one
large clickable button which would expose all the menus in one large
menu. Motivation is ease of access on the one hand and simplification
on the other.

> Therefore I just tried rearranging this launcher area and moved the
> session menu to the top of it and a toggle panel button next to the
> workspace switcher. What are your thoughts on this?
> http://i.imgur.com/xX7z8.png
> and with the indicator panel toggled:
> http://i.imgur.com/wSLus.png

I have the same objections as before.

> I don't know if this would be the best solution but at least I think it's
> better than the lenses since they more or less remove the whole idea of
> indicators.

I hope I cleared that up as above. I probably should do a mockup
myself (if have time...)

In case you missed it, I also presented a different solution:
https://lists.launchpad.net/ayatana/msg05651.html under "3)"