unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jonathan Meek <shrouded.cloud@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Thanks Jonathan for your ideas here - they're the most detailed ones so
> far! The animation bit I'm struggling to understand though…
>
> So, to help clarify, my idea, which is only a rough idea and needs working
is something like the following case for the user logging in:

   - The user hits enter after their password.
   - The login box would expand to fill the screen (to signify that that
   user is assuming direct control of the hardware.)
   - The "expanded" login box overlay would fade to complete transparency
   to show the desktop.
   - From there, the top panel would slide into place.

The key to this animation I've suggested, however, is that it is *quick*.
We can't waste the user's time with the transition, but the small touches
still count no matter how quick they are. (Like the minimization animation:
very quick, but still discernible).

Now, as for logging out, it would sort of be the reverse of the above:

   - The screen fades in a black, semi-transparent overlay.
   - During this fade, the menu bar and launcher slide out of place
   - When this overlay is at the same opacity of the login box from
   LightDM, the overlay will condense or collapse down into the shape of the
   login box.

This condensing animation is to show that control of the computer has been
locked and can only be accessed from that box.

As you can see-- if I've made it any clearer-- the idea is still in flux
and needs lots of refinement for other use cases (Such as dealing with the
transition to a locked screen: do you do the logout behaviour and then fade
the screen out or do you just fade to black and have the login screen
appear when the user tries to unlock?)

> I guess if get the right people to collaborate on Bootup <-> Greeter <->
> Unity handovers, and get their time, we can resolve this in a future
> release. Meanwhile, we could elaborate the design – including the logout
> and power off sequences.
>

I think this is the most important thing. We've long since past timeframe
for ideas for Precise and we've Wayland on its way (which I need to do some
research on to see if it can handle the compositing necessary for this
idea). I hope, if nothing else, this post will help to point out small
edges that are still exposed that we can't ignore.  After all, when
everything else is getting so much polish, it makes the unpolished items
stand out all the more.

Thanks for reading, if anything is still unclear, I'm still more than happy
to answer any questions. I will attempt to see if I can pull together some
time to work on a gif to demonstrate my words.