As was suggested before, this is probably why we need a wiki page to keep track of our vision and what the components of our desktop are going to be...
> First, to clarify I understand what we are doing for task switching > and launching: > > - We will have something like Exposé for visible windows (including > minimised windows). > - At the bottom we will have a view somewhat similar to the add > widget bar on Apple's Dashboard, where applications (later > components) can be selected for launching. > > I'm not entirely sure what we are planning on doing with hidden > windows. > > > I am quite concerned that this email seems to be discussing the > tabbed shelf. As I recall, after a very long discussion, we dropped > the idea of a tabbed shelf some months ago in favour of two > replacement ideas: > > 1) A floating shelf, invoked via corner activation or hot key, > overlaying all projects, somewhat like Dashboard, onto which things > could be dragged and dropped. This would be used for clippings that > were not tied to a specific project. > > 2) Clippings attached to the screen edges, as on the Newton[1]. > Dragging an object to the edge of the screen will cause it to be > placed there, for quick access from within the project. > > Between these two, the need for a tabbed shelf is eliminated. Both > give more space than a tabbed shelf at the cost of less wasted screen > real-estate. Yes, David, you're right. I think Brazil affected my brain and made me forget that conversation... that or I wasn't sure we ever reached a consensus :) This is the last message in that thread that David was discussing: https://mail.gna.org/public/etoile-discuss/2007-04/msg00181.html I'm still in favor of the idea expressed in that email and that David brought up just now. I think it's conceptually simpler and more flexible in supporting various styles of working. That said, Yen-Ju's proposal for the Tabbed Shelf is solid, and if for some reason this idea doesn't work, we may want to experiment with Yen-Ju's. So, at this point, this is what we're proposing for our environment (with a few assumptions about specifics thrown in as debating points): Menubar with: - Menulets (volume control, wireless strength, battery, etc) - Services menu (should be far right and should use the icon shown in this mockup: http://jesseross.com/clients/etoile/ui/interface/ 800x480.png ) - Flower menu (should be far left and should be used for system- wide tasks, such as logging out, shutting down, killing applications, system updates, system preferences, etc) - Tear off menus (using the tear-off bar shown in this mockup: http://jesseross.com/clients/etoile/ui/interface/800x480.png ) Shelf (identified as floating shelf in item 1 above, default trigger is a click in the lower right corner of the screen or on press of F1 or on drag of an item into the lower right corner) Overview (Exposé like view described by David at the top of this email, should show running apps along the bottom, and should show all open windows--both active and minimized, default trigger is a click in the lower left corner of the screen) Clippings (identified as clippings in item 2 above, can be made from any object--window, document, person, selection, application--and float above all other windows) Projects (collections of documents, open full screen, persistent) Tags (user-defined metadata attached to documents and projects which can be used as search criteria) Windows: - Windows have titlebars with three elements (from left to right): close button, document name, minimize button - Clicking the minimize button on a window performs a minimize-in- place - A window can be dragged to the screen edge to be turned into a 'window clipping', which is functionally equivalent to a traditional minimize in place - Dragging a 'window clipping' off the edge of the screen will un- minimize it - Double clicking the titlebar of a window will also minimize in place (at the location of the cursor upon double click, allowing for a quick un-minimize when accidentally double-clicked) - Minimized windows float above other windows - Busy windows turn semi-transparent Desktop (no icons on desktop, can be set to a user-defined color or image) Annotations (text or drawings made on a Project which serve as additional metadata associated with that Project) Notifications (appear in the upper right corner, can be set to sticky or temporary depending on originating application and user preferences, dismissed by clicking the close icon on the individual notification or by clicking the notification number/red icon in the menubar to dismiss all notifications--see mockup here: http:// jesseross.com/clients/etoile/ui/interface/800x480.png ) If I'm missing anything, or didn't explain something thoroughly enough, add in your thoughts. We'll take what we end up with here and post it on the wiki as the foundation for our environment. J. _______________________________________________ Etoile-dev mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/etoile-dev
