Hi all.
I like Jimmy's concepts. It would work well for me and the way I
work. I hope it can be given some consideration (or even as an option
of how workspaces could be used is a someone wants to work this way.
Regards
John
On 03/11/09 10:19, Jimmy Forrester-Fellowes wrote:
Hey all,
Attached is a very simple graphic to relay my concept. I'm not a
designer and this doesn't truthfully convey my ideas however it gives
you a quick idea of what I'm about to talk about.
(if you can't see the attachment see here:
http://www.jimmysparkle.me/dump/gnome-shell-concept.jpg )
I tend to find that i use my computer for a few main reasons:
1. Job Work - I have to work on projects for my employer
2. My Work - I have various projects I work on outside of my usual
9-5 job
3. Games
4. Personal (Photo management/web surfing etc)
When I load my computer, depending on which of the above I intend to
do, I open the required applications, folders, websites etc and this
takes time. If i switch between the above tasks during my session on
the computer I end up with loads of things open and things get a
little less organised. My desktop tends to be a general dumping ground
where bits from all of my above tasks tend to sit together.
My suggestion is to create a way of creating specific workspaces for
these jobs. If you want to work on something, you would open it's
workspace then all your related emails, programs, folders, bookmarks,
desktop icons etc are all there and geared towards that specific task.
The 3 main ideas are:
_*Saved workspaces for specific purposes*_
I thought it would be really great to be able to create a
workspace for something such as 'Friends & Family', I could
customise the wallpaper, choose programs that would auto-launch
and have different icons on my desktop. Examples of this could be:
1. A developer could have a workspace per project which would
automatically open his eclipse, web browser & previously
open web pages. On the desktop could be API documents etc
2. A user could be job hunting and have a specific workspace
which opens there CV. They could have a folder containing
all of the job specs they've applied for and Firefox could
open with job sites on.
3. A user could have a workspace dedicated to their
photographs, when opened it would launch f-spot and on
their desktop they could have folders albums as well as
gimp, picasa & xsane icons
The workspaces could be saved so when you boot up your computer
you can return to a workspace just the way it was when you left
it. This would really increase efficiency when users first load up
their pc & contribute to organisation.
*_Widgets per workspace_*
Applications are really useful, but you don't know what's
happening within an application until it's open. I think that's
where widgets come in. I never really thought widgets were useful
until I tried the HTC hero phone - HTC have created 'sense UI',
this is a layer on top of the Android OS. They have created an
array of really well made widgets which make using the phone a
much more enjoyable and efficient process. I suggest similar
widgets for email, news readers, stock tickers and social
networking (twitter, facebook) etc. These would be per workspace
so you could truly customise the workspace for the given task.
*_Accessing applications & data from different workspaces_*
In my pidgin client I have groups of contacts including:
'Friends', 'Colleagues', 'Family', 'Gaming friends' - I'd love to
display the Colleagues friend group on my 'work' workspace, my
'family' contacts on 'family' workspace etc. This would mean when
I'm looking at my 'work' workspace I wouldn't be disturbed by a
friend linking me to a youtube video, instead maybe a small
notification would appearing telling me I have a message waiting
on my 'friends' workspace.
I also think email could be separated this way, you could
associate an imap folder and/or webmail accounts to a workspace,
then when I'm looking at 'work' I'd only ever see work emails and
I'd flick to my personal workspace to get my personal emails. This
kind of separation would make my average day on the computer much
more efficient.
You could have indicators showing if you have email waiting, IM's
waiting etc next to each workspace. It could even poll the
workspaces that aren't open ever so often. I know this sounds
quite crazy but they could potentially be achieved via widgets
(mentioned in the previous point) & a workspace alert/notification
system?
Those are the 3 main ideas behind the concept but I have loads more
for how it could work and things that would make it more useful (eg.
storing your workspace configurations in the cloud (ubuntu one?) so
you could hop between them regardless of where you are).
Anyway thanks for reading and let me know what you think, even if it
is that i'm barking mad :P
- Jimmy
*** Sparkle Interactive ***
http://www.sparkleInteractive.co.uk
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