unity-design team mailing list archive

[shane lee <shaneymail@xxxxxxxxx>]

I find when I use Unity 2D with composite enabled, that lack of panel
shadow looks really odd when windows have shadows.
It also makes the desktop look so... flat.

I agree bugs are a problem and it needs looking at but maybe a better
way to draw the shadow?

On 3 June 2012 08:45, Alan Bell <alanbell@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I would like to propose removal of the 'shadow' cast by the unity top panel.
>
> This shadow causes the following bugs
>
> #956863 Top panel shadow is drawn above presentation when using LO Impress
> with Presenter Console
> #763579 Panel drop shadow causes issues for screencasting apps
> #871758 Top Bar, window managment - top bar shadow not falling on restored
> windows that are partially off the top edge of the screen
> #892718 [multimonitor] Opening dash on one screen removes panel shadow on
> the other
> #967294 Unity panel shadow should not draw over unfocussed windows
>
> The basic problem is that the shadow is not semantically a shadow at all, it
> isn't an openGL rendered consequence of the panel being above the desktop
> with a lightsource illuminating it and casting a shadow. It is just a
> translucent PNG stuck on the screen as decoration and isn't in the NUX layer
> outside the scope of compiz - like the top panel is. Under normal
> circumstances the shadow is positioned close to where the bottom of the
> panel should be if the panel is the default size - this is delicate. If you
> zoom into the desktop the shadow zooms but the panel doesn't and all the
> bugs kind of relate to the shadow and panel becoming disconnected with each
> other, because they are not actually attached to each other. I don't think
> these problems can be fixed with the current implementation strategy - if it
> was a shadow actually cast by the panel it might work better.
>
> Visually I don't think the shadow really adds anything to the desktop
> experience, and the assorted bugs really detract from it and do not give the
> pixel perfect impression we are going for.
>
> I am happy to do the work to patch it out if people agree.
>
>
> Alan.
>
>
> --
> I work at http://libertus.co.uk
>
>
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