unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matt Richardson <m.richardson.1990@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

OK so I read your proposal as using graphics to communicate that the 
process is occuring, even if it is taking longer than usual.

I find that the launcher icon pulsing does not provide enough feedback. 
When you launch a program and it doesn't start for a while, there are 
(for me anyway) two questions:
1) Did it actually register me clicking on it?
2) Is it actually launching?

The launcher icon pulsing answers question 1 very well (although if 
launching the program from somewhere other than the launcher, it can 
take a little while for the icon to appear)
It doesn't, however, address number 2. The problem with number 2 is a 
combination of previous experiences. Occasionally when I click a 
launcher icon, it pulses for a while, but the program never launches. On 
other occasions, the program does launch, but it takes considerably 
longer than normal. As it stands, I have no way of determining whether 
the program is simply loading slowly, or if it is stuck for whatever reason.

One program that deals with this issue is LibreOffice, by providing a 
splash screen with a progress bar. Linking to your idea, how about using 
the progress bars on the launcher icons to show that the program is 
loading, and that it is actually progressing?

The mention about the KDE icons on startup was an idea to address a 
similar issue on login. Currently, I enter my password, hit Enter and 
nothing happens. Sometimes the LightDM elements disappear, leaving me 
with just my wallpaper, sometimes they don't. This is particularly 
frustrating as A) If I have entered my password incorrectly, I see the 
same behaviour (no change -> long wait -> 'Incorrect password' message) 
and B) if login is slow, I am left with no feedback that it is actually 
progressing.

So basically, I liked the idea of non-verbal, more extensive feedback.
Matt

On 28/05/12 03:20, Daniel Hollocher wrote:
> On Sun, May 27, 2012 at 7:34 PM, Matt Richardson 
> <m.richardson.1990@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:m.richardson.1990@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>
>     +1. A progress related feedback would be really useful. I think we
>     should do the same thing at the login screen. Perhaps something
>     similar to the 4 or 5 icons KDE shows on startup?
>
>
> fwiw, I'm having trouble seeing how this is connected to what I 
> proposed.  What negative or frustrated thinking does your idea address?