With Unity Next upcoming there will be some changes and I would like to suggest some more xD Maybe some of the ideas reach the persons who are in charge to design / develop some of the talked areas and consider what I wrote down here.
UX improvements ============= * Kill all pop-up windows, except for the password prompt. This would result in a more pleasant user experience because there would be a lesser amount of windows distracting the user. I believe pop-up windows should stay instead in a separate tab and not in its own window cluttering the desktop. A compromise could be for an interim basis to bind all pop-up windows centralized to the application from which it was open, so that there is no second window for the pop-up on the desktop. * Improve the consistency of the system by providing every where the same tools and mechanisms, e.g. the user can shutdown / control the session when logged-in with the HUD, but not when in the login-manager. This should change, we have the HUD, it should be usable every where. * Remove flickering and blinking elements, e.g. when searching the Dash the entries flicker or when switching fast between the sound menu to the messaging menu the different windows appear and disappear producing a blinking effect. * Add a desktop background slide show setting and maybe one to loop a video too. This may be a small thing to do, but many people like to see there kids / family / friends on there desktop. I know, currently there is the possibility to create desktop slide shows, but be honest, they are not average user friendly and not build in. * Replace all 'send to' buttons with a share button. * Improve the print dialog / print settings. Remember nearly every user will use / see this dialog. * I guess you will replace Nautilus with your own file manager, if so, please remove the bloat of the right click menu. * Replace Rhythmbox, Totem & Nautilus with something that integrates nice into the desktop (functionality & look). Improve keyboard navigation ===================== Unity Next gives you the chance to do things right in some areas that rarely change. One of this areas are keyboard shortcuts. Currently there is no real agreement what key combination STRG + FooBar should do. It would be nice if Ubuntu would define default keys for common actions and enforce them in an Ubuntu HIG -> every app has to follow it to be labeled Ubuntu conform. STRG + Q = close all windows of an application STRG + T = open a new tab STRG + W = close tab or close single window if no tabs are open/available STRG + N = new document / file STRG + F = search STRG + C = copy STRG + X = cut STRG + V = past F1 = help F2 = open preferences ALT [0-9] = witch tab to [tab 0-9] STRG + +/- = zoom in / out STRG + K = delete line Having some keyboard shortcuts you can relay on in all applications would be great and improve the user experience. HIG === Define a fix name for the setting menu and where it should be, e.g.: Edit > Preferences Improve the Dash ============= Let's talk about searching. There are three places I usually search for something, the Internet, the file system and emails. When searching something in the net I use Google, easy, problem is fixed for me, no need for another tool proving the same functionality - I have a browser open anyway. The other two (file system and email) are left. The Dash dose not a good job on neither of them. It dose find files and folders but not accurate enough to be useful. It can't search your past mail conversations. Conclusion, currently the Dash fails as search tool, because it doesn't help me (the user) to find what I'm searching for. I still have to open several other programs to search for the things I'm looking for. * Search and find past Thunderbird conversations. * Index the content of the last 100 opened Documents and make it searchable in the Dash (txt, odt, doc...). * Search and find Thunderbird address book contacts. * Search and find the content of past Empathy conversations. Improve the Bash ============= The terminal is surely not an average user tool but I see here some improvements possibilities too. What about adding some more aliases and bash functions to enhance the default experience. I suggest to add a new file containing all these and load it through a line in the bashrc, so that it can be easily disabled. Of what I'm thinking of: Send a call for contribution out to the community to collect small functions and aliases that improve the daily command line live of the most into a wiki. Maybe let's even change the default prompt to something more useful, e.g. display the path and system name in one line and the bash prompt always in a second new line. Maybe add version control info (e.g. branch name) to the prompt (bzr, git, svn....), there are planty ways the default terminal UX could be improved. Just lets brainstorm and collect suggestions. Some aliases I use: alias ..='cd ..' alias ai='sudo apt-get install' alias ad='sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' alias au='sudo apt-get update' alias ap='sudo apt-get purge' alias ar='sudo apt-get remove' alias as='apt-cache search' alias ashow='apt-cache show' md() { mkdir -p "$@" && cd "$@"; } # create & cd into dir If anybody is interested in some of the suggested ideas, write me a mail / answer on the mailing list. I would be happy to create some wiki pages or talk to you to improve the current implementation of what ever UX part of the system. Greetings Thibaut
-- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~unity-design Post to : unity-design@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~unity-design More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp