unity-design team mailing list archive

["pjssilva@xxxxxxxxx" <pjssilva@xxxxxxxxx>]

I will use the opportunity to point out one of the major problems in
the Dash, IMHO. IN my home I am the only one using unity, my two sons
and my wife use Gnome and The Dash is the reason.

Let me explain. I thin the Dash is very good to find applications and
documents by searching. It is great to type two letters and get the
application you want, much faster than using the mouse. I love it and
I have already starting using such work flow with gnome-do under the
"old" Gnome 2 days.

Why do I use Unity and the rest of the family doesn't? The reason is
that I am very different from the rest of the family. I am computer
literate, using computers for programming since I was 10 years old (I
am 39 now). I am a computer scientist. I am a typist, so I feel very
comfortable to use the keyboard instead of the mouse. I know all the
applications that are installed in our computers, so I know what to
search easily. In short I prefer to search rather the to browse
applications.

But my two sons are young. 9 and 5 years old. They don't use the
keyboard to type and the youngest is illiterate. For them it is much
more natural to browse the installed applications, specially the
"Games" and "Educational" section. Right now the Dash is not good for
this. First when you click it, it defaults to search. Even if you
always move to the applications lens first, the Dash does not learn
this behavior and starts again in the Home lens in the next time. It
would be nice to be able to select the default lens in dash (or make
it learn your preference, which would be much nicer).

OK, I can teach my sons to open the application lens (I did the
similar thing in gnome shell).

Now the next pitfall, the application lens does not show the
applications categories by default, you have to open it (and even if
you always do, the lens will forget it once you log out and we do log
out in my place where we have one computer with two heads for four
people). So there are already two clicks before they can see the
categories. Now the categories in the application lens are not
exclusive, they behave like tags. So if you look at the education
section and after that want to take a break and play a game, you have
to first "un-select" the education category and only then select
games. Once again extra clicks. Another problem that generate extra
mouse clicks is that if the desired game is not in the first row of
the installed games, you need an extra click to expand all results.
This option is also forgotten once you log out.

I am sorry, but the above work flow is very convoluted and complicated
to explain to a five year old. Let me recall it: "Click application
lens", "Open the category browser", "Select your category (maybe you
want to un-select an old category)", "Expand results", and, finally,
find the game you want!

I do believe that the Dash and in particular the application lens
should better accommodate browsing for applications. Here are my
specific suggestions:

1) The Dash should learn that you usually prefer a specific lens and
open it as default.

2) The application lens should have the categories open by default.

3) The application lens should show all the results by default if the
option to *not* show installable applications is set.

3.5) If it is not possible to have the defaults in 2 or 3, the
application lens should recall its state between sessions. Then I
could do a first set up for my kids and then give then a better system
for their workflow.

4) The categories should work exclusively to allow easier browsing. If
you are browsing it is much more likely that you are looking at a
specific category than a group of two or more.

best,

Paulo

2012/6/12 shane lee <shaneymail@xxxxxxxxx>:
> I use Dash in the same way.
> Basic searching for what I want, no using of filters so the dash is
> really wasted for me.
>
> Since results from things like the video lens open up in a browser, I
> don't bother with that and just start off from the browser which is
> usually open anyway.
>
> For all it's bells and whistles, I use Dash EXACTLY the same way as I
> use KDE's Kickoff menu or the Windows start menu, both of which have
> remained unchanged for years.
>
> On 12 June 2012 09:35, Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On 06/12/2012 02:09 AM, Contempo wrote:
>>>
>>> http://i47.tinypic.com/xnynw9.png
>>
>>
>>> - The circles on the right indicate the Applications page where you
>>> are, like Android or iOs, but scroll down.
>>
>>
>> If a user really does scan more results that fit on one page, paging should
>> be of advantage, as I see no reason, why seeing part of the previous page
>> would help.
>>
>> Though for search-based access, I suspect that somewhere above 9 results,
>> showing any further matches does more to crowd the screen, less to help the
>> user.
>>
>>
>>> - The 3 rows of lens applications would be eliminated. ('Recent
>>> Applications' by now would have no better use than the left-launcher.
>>> Why 'Installed Applications' are hidden? by showing all of those icons
>>> you can get a better view of what is in the system. 'Applications to
>>> download' is redundant with the action that meets Ubuntu Software
>>> Center, which performs the function of recommending applications)
>>>
>>> - The lens Applications replace the home. (The home is divided in
>>> three rows, the most recent elements are found in the left-launcher or
>>> lenses)
>>>
>>> - The window control buttons removed. (The Ubuntu button opens and
>>> closes the dash, full screen always keeps your attention)
>>>
>>> - Categories filters removed. (More options for subdivision
>>> applications only brings more complexity, to this is the search and
>>> quick scroll with circles)
>>
>>
>> Personally, I use the Dash exclusively for search-based access to files,
>> folders and applications. No switching to specific lenses, no using Filters.
>> If I would want to limit results to one lense, it should be possible by text
>> entry or at least with a click close to where my pointer will be (which is
>> not the bottom of the Dash!).
>>
>> The exception where I could see myself using Filters is for music, but it's
>> questionable if those needs aren't better served by a specialized interface.
>>
>> Do others on the list use the Dash differently?
>>
>> Much more important: has Canonical's user testing led to any insight
>> regarding the depth and frequency of use of the Dash's current features?
>>
>>
>> --
>> Thorsten Wilms
>>
>> thorwil's design for free software:
>> http://thorwil.wordpress.com/
>>
>> --
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>
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-- 
Paulo José da Silva e Silva
Professor Associado, Dep. de Ciência da Computação
(Associate Professor, Computer Science Dept.)
Universidade de São Paulo - Brazil

e-mail: pjssilva@xxxxxxxxxx         Web: http://www.ime.usp.br/~pjssilva