Thanks for the tip. Though, I already know how to use dash. I guess dash/dock is mainly for the applications which used most often, and categorised application menu is for those applications which is only occasionally accessed. And even I already have 15 icons on my dock, I still find myself opening program menu to search for seldom used applications from time to time.
On a side note, I really like to see kind of a 'switchable' dock so I could change set of applications on it according to task currently I'm on. For example, when I do some music related work, I often use jackd related applications like ardour, hydrogen, lv2rack and etc. Though other times, I don't want those icons to clutter my dock, as I rather want to have more general set of applications at hand, like a web browser and a terminal, and so on. 2011-09-04 (일), 02:10 -0400, Jasper St. Pierre: > You can pin apps to the dash by dragging them there, or right-click on > its icon in the dash. > > On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 1:43 AM, Xavier Cho <fender_ru...@yahoo.co.kr> wrote: > > I've been using Gnome 3 for some months, and overall I think it's definitely > > a step in the right direction. However, as a long time Gnome 1&2 user, I > > find it lacking in some aspects in terms of usability and features. > > Most of all, I think Gnome 3 requires too much user interaction when > > navigating in the program menu. In the days of global application menu, when > > you need to launch an application all you need to do was 1) click on the > > panel menu icon, 2) and navigate by hovering your mouse over the categories, > > 3) then click on the application. All it needed was 2 clicks and minimal > > mouse movement. > > However in Gnome 3, you need first 1) move your mouse to the upper left > > corner of the screen, 2) and click on the programs menu, 3) wait couple of > > seconds (especially when you click it for the first time), 4) move your > > mouse to the opposite end of the screen to click through the application > > categories, 5) and again move your mouse pointer to where the application > > is, 6) and finally click on the icon to launch it. > > In summary, now it requires 3 + number of categories clicks and much more > > mouse traversal to lauch an application, which I feel a setback in terms of > > user experience compared to Gnome 1&2. > > I believe the situation would be much better if we could make the categories > > traversable by mouse hover instead of clicks, and move the category menu to > > the left side to make it close to the hot spot on the upper left corner of > > the screen. And it'd reduce the unnecessary delay if it displays selected > > few favorite, or most often used applications instead of showing all of them > > when you click on the program menu. I guess even providing an alternative > > hot spot, say lower left corner of the screen to access the program menu > > directly would make it on par with Gnome 2 in terms of mouse clicks needed > > for an application launch. > > I suppose the direction Gnome 3 is moving toward is providing a simple, > > unified desktop environment for variety of devices, including tablets and > > even smart phones. However, I believe simplicity in software doesn't always > > lies in 'eliminating' features, but usually in intuitive design and 'hiding' > > advanced features. > > Suppose, there's some basic tasks which most of the users performs often - > > like launching an application from program menu - consists roughly 30% of > > all desktop features. And there's features which more advanced users need or > > which are not used frequently, like customizing desktop fonts, would > > consists another 30% of the features. And finally there's remaining 40% of > > the features which would rarely be accessed or by expert users or > > developers. > > Then you need to make those basic 30% of features readily accessible - no > > keyboard short cuts, no redundant mouse clicks) in a most intuitive and > > simple way. And you can still expose the advanced 30% of features accessible > > from GUI, but hidden from casual users, preferably by providing 'advanced' > > button like many applications do. > > For the remaining expert features, I guess executing terminal commands or > > changing gconf values to access them shouldn't be much problem. > > So, I'd like to suggest we should collect and priotize all the planned or > > implemented features in Gnome 3 according to a criteria similar to the above > > mentioned, then re-evaluate their accessibility and usability according to > > their nature. So if there's some basic tasks like accessing an application > > menu requiring too much mouse interaction, or some non expert features like > > chaging desktop fonts missing from the control panel, we could easily detect > > such problem and fix it in a consistent way if there's such a design > > principle understood and agreed upon among the most developers and users. > > I guess Gnome desktop has come a long way, and now it's not uncommon to see > > non tech-savy people use it as their primary work environment. So, it's all > > about user experience and usability which really matters and would put Gnome > > ahead of other competitors. > > > > Xavier Cho > > > > _______________________________________________ > > desktop-devel-list mailing list > > desktop-devel-list@gnome.org > > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list > > > > > _______________________________________________ desktop-devel-list mailing list desktop-devel-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop-devel-list