unity-design team mailing list archive

[James Jenner <james.g.jenner@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 13 November 2011 03:14, Jo-Erlend Schinstad <joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx
> wrote:

> As I see it, those 8 buttons on the dash should be replaced. With what?
> The most used items from each section of the most used _private_ scopes.
> That is to say, it's ok to display music I have on my disk, but not music
> from music stores.
>

IMHO the best default option for standard users would be to replace the
current options with:

* a row of the most commonly used programs
* a row of the most recently used documents
* a row of the most recently used multimedia

Only question mark for both is should they be commonly used or recently
used. Also an option to remove an entry is important.

However for power users I think an option to allow users to choose what to
display. Some may like it split and configurable, like a row grouped for
music, source code, documents, etc.


> What other issues are there? There are a few, but those are not design
> issues, as far as I can see. I think keyboard shortcuts is _the_ thing to
> solve. Tab should not switch between lenses. It is very inconsistent with
> all other GUIs I've ever used, or at least that I can remember. Ctrl+tab
> should be used for that and ctrl+shift+tab to switch in the opposite
> direction. Tab should be used to switch from the search field to the
> sections and between them. Alt+num/char (1 to m) should be used as direct
> accessor for items. I'm so tired at seeing these icons and not be able to
> access them. I mean, I can run wesnoth about as quickly as I can decide to
> play. In the lenses, I spend lots of time just accessing things. It's
> annoying.
>

Agree totally about tab. Using tab is so wrong, and breaks the conventional
usage of tab. I don't see many design issues, most of them are purely
preference. I would like to see the lens selection at the top and not the
bottom, as I feel it should be closer to where your mouse is when you open
the launcher with the mouse, but it's not a big issue.


> Visually, and otherwise technically, I really like the current way the
> lenses look and feels. If it was up to me, I wouldn't change much. But it
> isn't, so don't worry :)
>

Funnily enough I kinda agree, however I find I never use the first set of 8
icons, I tend to either use an icon in the launcher or a different lens,
generally the application or file one.

Cheers,
James.