unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad <joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 26. mai 2011 16:19, Ed Lin wrote:
> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 2:15 PM, Jo-Erlend Schinstad
> <joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
>
> > I was very sceptical about the global menu to begin with, but I gave it
> > a try and now I really like it.
> ...
> > I have no problems with global menus.
> > It does take a little time to get used to, but I think the benefits are
> > worth the effort.
> I'm always interested in opposing views. Could you share what exactly
> are the benefits for you, what do you like about, what do you prefer
> to what you had before, how do you use it, netbook, single-tasking,
> always maximized or desktop, multiple windows....?

Thank you. Yes, I'll be happy to describe that, of course.

I use it on a 15" laptop, a 11" subnotebook and on my desktop
which has a 24" screen running in 1920x1080. I like it for a
number of reasons.

The biggest benefit I see, is the calmness it brings to my work
environment. I was more than a little surprised by this. I had
never considered the menus to be distracting in any way, but
once they were gone, then I realised they had been. Really.
I think I want to compare it to the sound of my subnotebook.
It really isn't noisy at all and I don't pay attention to it, but when
I switch it off, then I certainly notice and appreciate the sudden
silence. Most of the time, I have no use for the menus at all,
so why should they bother my eyes all the time? It's like a
waiter who sits down at your table waiting for you to ask for
something. Sure you can ignore the waiter, but I dare say
you'd still be a little distracted. Most of the time, I know exactly
what I want and if I need a menu, I know where to find it and
how to use it.

That brings me to the next benefit. It's much less of an issue
for me, but I do think it's beneficial to have the menus at the
same place all the time. I came from Windows and not Mac,
so for me, it was a rather significant change, but I was
determined to keep an open mind and give it a real chance.
And while I don't think it's a huge improvement, I definitely
think it's an improvement. I press alt and look straight at them.
I do, however, think that the menus should be prepended with
the icon of the focused window. Menus seldom need all the
space they're given in any case, so I don't think that's an issue.
The icon would help create a mental connection between the
menu and the focused window. The only negative side I can
see about the "disconnection" between a window and its menu
is when you let focus follow the mouse pointer. If you have
tiled your windows and the focus follows the pointer, then
you might focus another window on your way to the menu,
causing the menu to change. However, I've never understood
why anyone would want to do that. I always move the cursor
_away_ from the focused window in order to avoid distraction.
But it might be something to consider if this is something that
many people do. Perhaps global menu and focus follows pointer
should be mutually exclusive options?

On my desktop, I tile my windows and use workspaces
extensively. Many windows has traditionally meant many visible
menus and then they become not only distracting, but annoying
because they start to waste a considerable amount of space.
Also, if I have many terminal windows open, then I'd also have
many identical menus on my screen. It is possible to remove
the menu from a gnome-terminal window, but that shouldn't be
required. It should be the opposite and that might be worth
considering: add a menu item to the window menu (right click
titlebar) where you can choose that this application should not
use the global menu. "Attach/Detach menu"? There might be
use cases for that, although I can't think of any at the moment.

By the way; do you remember what it says on the Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy? «DON'T PANIC!». I certainly won't miss
having 8-10 help-menus staring me in the face all the time. :)

Thanks.

Jo-Erlend Schinstad