On 13/08/2008, at 11:13 AM, Frank Ludolph wrote:

> MC wrote:
>>
>>> http://opensolaris.org/os/community/desktop/uispecs/indiana-uispec/
>>>
>> The top panel has too many icons in it.  That space is for things  
>> the user knows about and needs to access quickly, frequently, or  
>> while multitasking.  The user doesn't only not know about the  
>> package manager gui, but he also doesn't need to access it quickly,  
>> frequently, or while multitasking.
>>
>> The top panel icon space sacrifices identifiably for  
>> accessibility.  That is why you shy away from putting things there  
>> that the user doesn't know about... and let him fill that space  
>> with things when and if he needs to.
>>
>> The gnome desktop has ample room for icons with labels, and it  
>> isn't being used for anything else right now.  Use that for the  
>> bulk of what you want people to see...
>>
>>
> I agree with most of you points. We wrestled with the question of  
> where to put the pkg mgr icon. We feel the pkg mgr will be used  
> initially by all users to add software for the first few days/week  
> after installation - the LiveCD is small, - and frequently, if not  
> daily, by many users for updates and to find out about newly  
> available software.
>
> We would like to limit the number of items initially on the desktop  
> to just those that are important primarily following installation,  
> e.g. Next Steps. A very low number initial desktop icons makes each  
> of them highly visible. After they have been inspected and used the  
> user will likely discard them, leaving a clean desktop.
>
> So we chose to put the pkg mgr icon, and perhaps others that some  
> users might find not so necessary on the top panel. It is very easy  
> to remove items from a panel so users who don't want it there can  
> remove it in just two clicks.

I'm not sure I agree having 2 network status icons there is a good  
thing - I know there is a slight difference, and if it's just a  
temporary workaround, then I'm fine with that. I don't think there's a  
need for both, personally.

I'd also like some good rationale for why the input method  
notification icon is added by default when I'm running in an English  
locale - it seems meaningless to me (and not a very good user  
experience to see the window display at first login, then jump up to  
the panel when it starts).

I notice the difference in pixels between the notification icons, and  
the launch icons on the left hand side is different. I'm not sure I  
agree with 6px - it seems a large amount.

I think I'd also like to see the Next Steps icon being different.  
While I can appreciate the association that it's going to launch  
Firefox to display, we're not getting 'Firefox Next Steps', but  
OpenSolaris ones.


Glynn


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