unity-design team mailing list archive

[topdownjimmy <topdownjimmy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Does anybody know all the justifications behind this change, versus
some other way of solving the "Dash/Home Button isn't obvious" problem
(http://design.canonical.com/2011/04/unity-benchmark-usability-april-2011/)?
 The bug report (http://pad.lv/764771) doesn't seem to have any
discussion attached to it, and so far I've seen no response from
Canonical in these threads.

I just feel uncertain that all the alternatives have been explored here:

What if the Home Button were orange?
What if it were more curved with a stronger gradient to have a more
button-like appearance?
What if it glowed when the mouse cursor hovered over it?
What if its importance were more strongly emphasized in the
installation slideshow?
What if the system started with the mouse cursor hovering over the
Home Button, just as Mac OS X starts with the mouse cursor hovering
their Apple button?
What about this other mockup?:
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/unity-shell/+spec/better-ubuntu-button-bfb

And these are just a few ideas...

I share the concern with some people that moving the Home Button into
the launcher de-emphasizes its centrality to the Unity Shell, and it
seems to me that some more subtle changes might accomplish the same
thing without breaking the expectations of people who have already
gotten used to Natty.

On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 3:56 AM, Niklas Rosenqvist
<niklas.s.rosenqvist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I believe it was moved from the top to make applications integrate more
> gracefully with the top bar. Instead of the window controls not being at the
> edge of the screen as they would have been if the application was maximized
> but wasn't because of BUB, they now are, which lets it integrate much less
> awkwardly and bring a more consistent user experience.
>
> I think this was a wise design choice but I agree on that the new BUB should
> be better distinguished from other launchers. Now when it has the same
> squared shape it's impossible to think that it's nothing less than an
> ordinary installed application - instead of the main way of interacting with
> the OS to find files, applications and all other stuff lenses can provide.
> The Canonical designers SHOULD be able to improve this.
> I can't help but feel that the designers just make up things as they go
> instead of doing proper usability research before making a decision. GNOME
> Shell was a much more thought out product when it was released - a complete
> experience, while Unity has had incredibly many changes from the original
> design. The whole UX with Unity has been awkward for me to say the least.
> I'm happy they are bringing so many new changes in the upcoming iteration
> and hope that I'll be able to use it as my primary DE in the future :)
> (though it seems that the Elementary Project's Pantheon is a tough
> candidate)
> 2011/8/15 Alberto Mardegan <alberto.mardegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
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>> Hi,
>>
>> On 08/12/2011 09:20 PM, M. Adnan Quaium wrote:
>> > 1. May be we can introduce an animated spinning Ubuntu-logo (like a
>> > wheel)
>> > which spins all the time to attract the user and stops spinning at mouse
>> > hovering. Or a 3D rotating Ubuntu-button can be introduced.
>> > 2. The button may have a glowing effect all the time. As the other
>> > Launcher
>> > buttons does not have a glowing effect, it surely can catch the
>> > attention of
>> > a user.
>> > 3. Or the Ubuntu-button can be much bigger than the rest of the buttons
>> > (well ... then it would be a Windows idea).
>> > 4. May be a separator can be put in between the Ubuntu buttons and the
>> > rest
>> > of the buttons.
>>
>> These suggestions, as the other ones being proposed in this thread, are
>> all of good value and worth considering. I personally think that a quick
>> mention of the button existence during the installation/upgrade phase
>> and some glowing or pop-up during the first couple of seconds of a user
>> session should be enough.
>>
>> But then again, I wonder why the button moved to the launcher. If we add
>> some hints to notify the user of the button existence, then why not put
>> it back to the top panel, where it's more easily reachable? :-)
>>
>> Ciao,
>>  Alberto
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