unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matthew Bassett <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 16/06/11 22:17, Matthew Bassett wrote:
> On 15/06/11 21:28, Matthew Bassett wrote:
> [some stuff deleted]
> 
>> 1) to not activate menu drop downs until mouse-up (so you can grab the
>> the menu bar/title bar without issue and drag the menu around), or
>>
>> 2) only make the menu appear when you mouse over the left hand half of
>> the title bar.
> 
> Or:
> 
> 3) When the pointer goes over the title bar of a non-maximised window,
> have the menu bar appear floating below the title bar, to the right of
> the window buttons (for consistent horizontal alignment with the menu of
> maximised windows). This leaves the title bar free for grabbing to move
> the window, without having "special" unexpected behaviour for those
> people that are used to scrubbing the pointer down on a menu to select
> the desired item.

[all the cool kids are using balsamiq, so I have used it WRONG:]

Here is my illustration of a window where the mouse pointer is not near
the Window title bar (this is only here so you can compare it to the
other version): http://ubuntuone.com/p/zkH/

Here is my illustration of when the pointer has gone over the title bar:
http://ubuntuone.com/p/zkI/

Some notes:
1) maybe it looks better if you don't overlap the floating menu with the
title bar, but instead extend the menu out from the window title (as I
have tried to illustrate above).
2) it would be simple to dock the floating menu bar (although you would
use up vertical real estate in the window) for those that wish to see
the menu permanently.
3) it would be simple to change the behaviour to require a mouse down on
the menu title in order to make the menu appear...
4) For maximised windows you can have the menu appear consistently with
this (i.e. floating below the panel) thus keeping the application name /
window title visible, instead of it being concealed by the menu.

Feedback?