On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 3:43 AM, Evan Huus <eapa...@gmail.com> wrote: > This debate is getting rather heated, and I'm getting quoted and > rephrased a fair bit. Let me take this opportunity to clarify both > what I actually think: > > Unity is supposed to be considered 'application-centric'. ... > This model isn't for everyone.
Thanks for chiming in. I've extensively written about this in another mail (and got no replies) This is a good topic to further look into but it's not the central issue of this current discussion. > Niklas's current mockup is a good step in that direction (albeit with > some problems) and I would be very interested in trying a working > version of it. It is one potential way towards a window-centric Unity. I disagree. It solves nothing in terms of window-level switching. There are a few ideas floating around for improving that. The only thing this mockup changes is the visibility of running or not running *applications*. This isn't enough and so far nothing could convince me the change is worth the tradeoffs. As a former windows user who switched to Mac and then back and then Linux and then (oh it's complicated, I now use all 3...) just one thing I want to share (repeat?) on that: I didn't like mixing launching and switching at all so I got completely rid of all application icons in the Dock. On Windows 7 too I didn't put launcher icons into the taskbar (I also switched back to the classic taskbar mode). This is possible in Unity too. It's a "power user" case and for those keyboard shortcuts for launching applications or tools like GNOME-Do are available as alternative app launchers. > In the end, I think we'll end up with a single option for this whole > mess: App or Window model. App model by default, which is Unity > more-or-less as it currently stands. Window model can be selected by > anyone who actually wants/needs it. It still needs to go through a > proper design process but again, Niklas's idea is a big step in the > right direction. I hope and I believe that it's not necessary to decide app OR window-centric. A good interface could combine both and gradually exposes additional features depending on the skills and expectations of its user. But really that's for another thread. > 1) We need an interface for those who fall into one of the > window-centric use cases. Unity as it stands is not that interface, > leaving a lot of users out in the cold. You can still use a taskbar if you want to, keyboard shortcuts and compiz scale are available. The running app indicator doesn't have much impact on that. I've made a mockup of my own. The goal was to improve the difference between running and not running applications without introducing other changes or preventing the implementation of a hidden application indicator. before|after with two different designs (FF/Thunderbird and banshee at the bottom): http://i.imgur.com/4DcaO.png _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana Post to : ayatana@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp