Hi all, I suggest a simple solution for Elisa's integration into
Ubuntu/GNOME desktop:
1. when the user logged in, an elisa tray launcher application will
launch, and an icon will appear at the tray.
2. when press a button on the remote, or when double-clicking the tray
icon, the application will be shown immediately (all of the modules will
be loaded when the user log in)
3. when pressing escape or a specific button on the remote within elisa,
it will disappear immediately, and a balloon pop from the t ray icon,
reminding that elisa is still active.
4. the playback of media, of course, should continue even when elisa is
minimized. and the remote will still be able to control it.
(prev/next/play/pause)
the implementation is not so difficult:
1. the tray application should lanuch elisa on another X, and should
listen to events from remote control.
2. when the user wants to show elisa, the tray application will switch
to that X window.
3. when the user want to hide elisa, the elisa should switch back to the
gnome X window.
4. all of the events from the remote control to the tray application
will be passed as is to elisa application.
leo
all
Allan Day wrote:
Hi all,
I had some ideas about how to improve Elisa's integration with
Ubuntu/GNOME, and Florian suggested that I share them with the list...
so here they are. Feel free to criticise, discard, etc! If anyone
thinks any of them are any good, I can add them to the spec on the
Ubuntu wiki. Apologies in advance for the length of this message!
First, a couple of minor, obvious suggestions:
- Greater presence in the documentation, including tours, introductory
guides, etc.
- Greater presence in tooltips. When you start your media player for
the first time, it would be nice to get a message saying something
like 'Did you know that Ubuntu has a built in media center, which lets
you...?'
And then, what is for me, *the* major issue. Specifically, how should
switching into and out of Elisa be handled? The thing here is that
Elisa is quite different from other desktop applications - it has a
very different kind of GUI, which doesn't have any of the usual menus
or widgets, and it operates in fullscreen mode most of the time. As a
result, the usual ways of integrating an application into the desktop
environment (window borders, task lists applets, maximising,
minimising, etc) aren't very appropriate.
My preference, therefore, would be to exclude Elisa from all the usual
window management features, and to come up with a totally alternative
set of solutions to desktop integration (I'm being deliberately
argumentative, here!). Here, instead of utilising an
application-as-window metaphor, you could use an
application-as-environment metaphor - Elisa would be communicated as
an alternative to the usual GNOME desktop. You'd have to do a few
potentially controversial things to achieve this:
- Don't allow Elisa to leave full screen
- Exclude Elisa from window list applets, etc
- Don't put Elisa in the applications menu (I'm not sure whether this
is absolutely necessary, but it logically follows the argument)
Then you'd need some alternative ways to switch into and out of Elisa.
Here's a selection (some of which have already been suggested):
- Hot and media keys
- A panel applet/tray icon (I'm not sure about this one, it's just an
idea)
- Integration with multiple desktops - so Elisa becomes one desktop
(again, just an idea)
- The opportunity to enter the Elisa environment from the GNOME login
prompt - a 'Media Centre Session'
- Remote control activation - so if you hit a button on your remote,
Elisa automatically springs to life
- Gnome-Do activation
You'd also want to do as much as possible to suggest to the user that
Elisa isn't an application and that it is in fact an alternative
environment in its own right. This could include:
- The Elisa session GNOME login option (which has already been mentioned)
- A snazzy animation for switching in and out of Elisa - something
which suggests 'this is an alternative environment'
- Fast, smooth, and seamless switching into and out of Elisa. Load
time is something that is associated with applications. Environments
are 'just there'. I don't know whether this would merit having
Elisa/Pigment constantly running in the background, but it's something
to consider.
So that's my major suggestion - ditch the window metaphor. How that is
achieved, and how it is implemented is the tricky part. ;)
Allan
Florian Boucault wrote:
Hi everyone,
Two Elisa developers (Alessandro and myself) were in Prague for the
Ubuntu Developer Summit [1] in order to get a feeling of what is going
to be the next Ubuntu, the Intrepid Ibex, and discuss with Ubuntu
developers the need that users feel for a default media center solution.
A lot of people were quite interested in the idea notably developers
focused on user experience, the Ubuntu Mobile team, contributors to
Mythbuntu and generally users.
A list of ideas on how to integrate better Elisa in the Ubuntu desktop
was laid out and we would now like to follow up on it. They have been
added to the corresponding Ubuntu specification [2] and everyone is of
course more than welcome to contribute. The plan is to get to
implementing as soon as possible to meet the next Ubuntu.
Have a nice day,
Florian
[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/news/spotlight/uds
[2] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ElisaUbuntuIntegrationSpec
