unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Colton Allen wrote on 25/06/12 18:35:
> 
> Reference Link 
> <http://screencloud.net/img/screenshots/63c76ce1e289641269926a722b0c82bc.png>
>
>
> 
The panel's shadow should not overlay over non-focused applications.
> The panel's shadow is used for distinguishing the panel from the 
> desktop.  It is not for distinguishing between focused and
> non-focused applications.  Applications already have their own
> focused and non-focused theme states.  The shadow's overlay
> distracts from my overall experience and presents a hierarchy of
> focused applications > panel > non-focused applications.
> Applications should always take the forefront.

I don't think it's true that "The shadow's overlay ... presents a
hierarchy of focused applications > panel > non-focused applications".

When I look at your screenshot, I see the menu bar and the focused
window at exactly the same level, and unfocused windows on
successively lower levels:

                 you



    [menu bar] [focused window]

                   [unfocused window]

                       [unfocused window]

    ====================== desktop =====================

When you say "Applications should always take the forefront", that
would mean the menu bar is below all windows:

                 you



               [focused window]

                   [unfocused window]

                       [unfocused window]

    [menu bar]

    ====================== desktop =====================

But then, what happens when you open a menu from the menu bar? The
menu appears on top of every window. (If it didn't, you couldn't use
it whenever there was a window in the same place.) That would make no
visual sense if the menu was being opened from a menu bar that was
below every window:

                 you

            __[menu]_____________
           /
           \   [focused window]
            \
             \     [unfocused window]
              \
               \       [unfocused window]
     _[title]__/
    [menu bar]

    ====================== desktop =====================

But it makes perfect sense if the menu bar is level with the top window:

                 you


     _[title]_[menu]_____________
    [menu bar] [focused window]

                   [unfocused window]

                       [unfocused window]

    ====================== desktop =====================

- -- 
mpt
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