unity-design team mailing list archive

[Petko <pditchev@xxxxxxxxx>]

  I want to throw in my idea about integrating the old GNOME2-like 
(apparently I don't know exactly how it's called) menu . At the moment 
there's a related discussion about the dash , so I thought it's the 
right time to post the thread.

TL;DR : right click on the dash button opens a categories menu (app 
categories) (instead of the current lense list menu) ,and each item can 
collapse a second menu with its applications (=>same thing as the GNOME2 
menu,but in the current style) .

Pros:
> Backward compatibility for the users that are used to the old style 
menus => Ubuntu won't be loosing the users that cannot operate the dash 
well yet . Doesn't matter if it's their choice or their admins choice - 
forks and whatever other derivatives of Ubuntu have been made to have a 
"classic" view and people are migrating to them instead of going to 
11.04+ Ubuntu . My proposition for this change comes a bit late , and 
most of the above has already happened , but butter late than never , 
right ? The proposed menu would give a bridge for the slow adapting 
users to come across to the Dash era so to speak .
>The "Find a game you don't know the name of" example : the current 
system for filtering applications is just bad . The old menus were good 
in some cases , and are still better than the dash in some cases , so 
consider this pro too .

Implementation:
>The current use of the menu on dash right-click is ok , but certainly 
not essential ,so that's not an obstacle IMHO.

Stuff that might come up:
>Please do tell if I have to defend the "Implementing old ideas is not 
always bad" theory , or in other words "Why we must progress ,but not 
forget the good we've found so far" . I have the feeling there'll be a 
lot of tension in that direction .
> I'd thought of some more , but that evaporated while I was typing

 Not related : Something I just need to state ,as your common new 
contributor (bugs ,mails, ideas , soon an app) - the discussion system 
feels so useless . I just want to type it with big letters or ,idk, 
something that emphasises this statement . I've been following a few of 
the mailing lists for about 10 months now , made threads , part took in 
threads , made brainstorm entries , a blueprint ,submitted bugs , 
suggested design solutions ... and so on , but the effect so far is very 
close to zero . The feedback I've received is .. let's say ok , but 
still the whole system feels so non-functional . The mailing lists from 
what I've understood (probably wrong as I come to think of it) should be 
one of the (of not The) main places where the magic happens . Where 
ideas go through discussion , organization , implementation , 
post-implementational refining .... So to cut it short here - I haven't 
seen much real developer discussion here (lets say 1-5% ) , just : 1 
Ideas that get disproved (~80%) (rightfully so) , 2 Non related topics 
~5% , 3 Discussions of ideas that get no counter/get general 
agreement/get no end response from someone that actually makes the 
decision about the design/component in question (15%) . I do not know 
"where the magic happens" , I do not know where the real discussions are 
(except the live sessions , but not everyone can go there) . I don't 
know where to watch and poke in order to learn and get my tiny overly 
argumented opinion through to some measurable in reality result. Thus 
ends the chunk of text that mostly says : I don't think this mail could 
go through ,even if it was the most meaningful thing in the universe , 
but I'm still an optimist .
 If someone wants to reply to the "Not related" - please do so in 
another thread , or just address me , this was more of a statement , not 
a part of the thread. I have some ideas about improving the efficiency 
of the discussions generally in open source communities , but that 
thread will come when said ideas are more developed .

Petko Ditchev