I like the idea of a recently used applications applet which would show
icons for say the last five programs you launched from the menu.
Andrew Laignel wrote:
I totally agree with this.
Only functions that are used on an extremely regular basis should have
an icon on the desktop. I do like the way Ubuntu has a 'places' menu
along with 'applications' as if your going to do something then it's
either going to involve a) opening a file or b) running a program
though, but too many icons just leads to clutter and creates confusion.
I'd go as far as to say that I seriously doubt more than 80% of the
general population, if exposed to Ubuntu, would ever use the button. It
really shouldn't be there as it doesn't deserve the prominence. I also
think the addition of the power off button on the main bar is also silly
for the same reasons - your only ever going to use it max once per session.
I think the power button position is a response to the anti-MS trolling
of 'You have to click Start to shut down, lol' which is a ridiculous
complaint. From a usability point of view calling the button 'Start'
and making it an entirely different colour draws the attention of the
users to it. Metaphorically it means 'Start doing things here'.
Real attention I think should be paid to the Gnome UI layout. As far as
I know it is exactly the same as upstream Gnome and I have seen no
significant changes or improvements since Warty. There are many ways it
can be improved upon to streamline workflow, save space and improve
usability. Since Ubuntu is 'Linux for human beings' I believe this
should be given a top priority as user experience is key to retaining
your userbase.
As an example from Windows XP, the 'new style' Start box has on the left
hand side a list of your most commonly used applications. I've set it
to display 12 at once and you can pin items to it permanently. As a
result if you use an app more than a couple of times in future is never
more than two clicks away with no need to scan a list for it.
Gnome at the moment still has functionality akin to Windows 98 and I
feel virtually all the effort is on either dealing with bugs or adding
new software with seemingly virtually no focus from the Ubuntu camp at
improving Gnome significantly.
I am working on a few potential UI improvement mockups but I am rather
busy these days. I believe that the system GUI is one of the most
important aspects of an OS, and if given sufficient love it would help
pull Linux into the mainstream. Users care about looks and usability
far more than stability and freedom.
Although this is Ubuntu Artwork, I do think Usability should be given a
top priority, or even it's own list (it deserves it!).
Sumit Chandra Agarwal wrote:
I'm not sure if this is quite on-topic for the art list, but it has to
do with visual presentation so I thought I'd try here first:
As it is the top panel in Ubuntu is as cluttered or more cluttered than
Windows or Mac desktops, with the addition of another panel at the
bottom. One item that is significant taking up a lot of space on the
upper panel is the fast user switching applet, which manifests itself as
text showing the current user name.
This is a great feature. However, I would *guess* that for greater than
50% of Ubuntu users this is unnecessary as they are using the machine as
a *personal* computer and as such they are the only user registered on
the system. This makes the applet pointless and it only adds to clutter
and eating away at space.
Could Ubuntu be configured to intelligently only add the applet if there
is more than one user registered to the system?
Sorry if this is off-topic,
-Sumit
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