I'm new to this (having just joined the gnome-shell-list, but I quite like this suggestion, with one possible addition. I was wondering whether all of them could be on a circular strip (think zoetrope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope) which could easily be rotated so that you can choose and manipulate them as required. A circular arrangement would allow you to see all the applets at one time (bar those on the left and right at any particular time), and pick them easily.
Note: IANAL or an interface designer... -Mike. > What if we create a new class of window for applets with these > characteristics: > - Does not appear in the Window list > - Does not appear in the alt-tab switcher > - No window borders (they will draw their own content somehow) > - The Window Manager will have a certain key event that will bring all > of these class of windows to the foreground until that button is > pressed again (or each applet could register its own) > - These windows (or maybe their children?) can be configured to be on > top of all windows permanently, maybe with a lowered opacity (so you > can always see f.e. your CPU usage on the system monitor applet) > - The windows can be positioned anywhere on the screen > - Ability to toggle temporary visibility in order to inform of events > (next song playing, network disconnected, etc.) (maybe a good way to > do notifications in the future?) > - Would be nice if each app could have a "collapsed" state to further > minimize screen usage (for people with smaller screens) > > The goals of this design would be: > - Quick access to any of these applications when you need them; > already running, just a keypress to activate them / bring to > foreground > - Can display more information because they have a larger display area > - Can be written into any applicable spec so other environments could > implement these > - No specific framework required to these applications, just create a > certain type of window > - No language constraints; anything that can make a graphical app can > make one of these > - Any app could have a "minimize as applet" state (media players would > like this) which shows just the basic info about them in a small > footprint > > I personally think that the current state of applets is a little > limiting. I like the panel well enough, but I feel like applets could > be displaying more information about their state if they just had a > little more screen real estate to play with. Since many people have > very large screens now, why not work on letting the applets take up > more of it? > > - Martin > > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 8:10 AM, Emilio Pozuelo Monfort > <po...@ubuntu.com> wrote: > > Milan Bouchet-Valat wrote: > >> While I agree your proposal would be a great enhancement for most > >> applications that abuse of the notification area (e.g. music players), I > >> don't think that could fully replace applets. Applets like timerapplet > >> or sticky notes are different from standard applications in the sense > >> that you don't work with them as a full task, but only keep them in the > >> background to be easily accessible, while you actually use them for a > >> very short period. > >> > >> The point with them is that the ratio (time running)/(time use) is very > >> low compared with e.g. a text processor. Thus, you need them not to take > >> too much space on the screen, not even, as you suggested, stacked in a > >> corner by the window manager. I'd argue that the best place to put them > >> is on a separate layer à la dashboard (Apple), or directly on the > >> desktop. This layer could be accessed with a button in the top panel, > >> somewhere or in the overlay. Many "widgets" of this kind exist, see > >> Screenlets, Superkaramba, or Google gadgets, or Plasmoids. A simple way > >> of reintroducing applets in a "correct" way would be to support e.g. > >> Screenlets in an overlay: replacements for Tomboy already exist in that > >> framework, which is AFAIK compatible with other widget formats. > >> > >> At least, that's really how I consider we could get rid of the clutter > >> on the main screen, which is distracting us with icons we don't need to > >> be always visible. > > > > I like the proposed solution that the panel launchers would somehow become > > a dock. > > > > e.g. for Tomboy or Hamster Applet, you have the icon launcher. If you click > > on > > it, the app is opened. If you click on it again, it's closed. That could be > > achieved with single-instance applications (libunique), for example (when > > you > > try to launch it again, the instance is closed). For many cases, I can > > imagine > > such a workflow would be fine. It wouldn't solve all of them though, for > > example > > you don't want system-monitor to be a launcher, but rather to see the system > > activity IRL. > > > > Another benefit of this is that a) your applet doesn't need to be started > > up on > > login, and b) you don't have it running everytime. Of course, you need it > > to be > > quick to start up. But if it doesn't for such small applications, it's a big > > fail IMHO. > > > > Best regards, > > Emilio > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > desktop-devel-list mailing list > > desktop-devel-list@gnome.org > > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list > > > _______________________________________________ > gnome-shell-list mailing list > gnome-shell-l...@gnome.org > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-shell-list _______________________________________________ desktop-devel-list mailing list desktop-devel-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list