unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jason Smith <jason.smith@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 02/14/2012 09:03 AM, Conscious User wrote:
> This has been asked before but I don't remember getting an "official" 
> answer... What is the rationale for dropping the accordion effect on 
> top (which was present in the first version of Unity)?
>
> In the current version, if an user is constantly switching to a 
> recently opened app, he constantly needs to go see the unfolding 
> animation. Wouldn't folding on top and keeping the launcher as it was 
> the last time it was clicked be a better approach?
If you think in terms of click areas only, the launcher is a series of 
hot boxes you can click on. By having the launcher re-fold constantly, 
those boxes always return to the same position, which allows for users 
to have a higher degree of confidence about what they are about to mouse 
into, even with a hidden launcher. Further if you are looking for 
something at the bottom of the launcher, having the mouse enter the 
launcher at any position will cause it to unfold at that position as 
well (so the item it enters over stays under the mouse).