On Tue, 2009-12-29 at 20:27 +0000, Samuel Arthur Wright Illingworth wrote: [...]
> One thing I will say though - Owen, you say you're dead set against > having a static list of the existing windows I did not say that. I said: - Adding a task list to the current design does not make sense *in isolation*. - We want to do user testing with the current design (including the message tray) and are unlikely to make any big changes without reference to that. > but I for one need a visual reminder of what windows I've got open > for the current activity - it helps focus my mind on what I'm doing, > what information I have available to me, what I need to do next, etc. One of our big problems with the task list going in was that we didn't feel it did that; window titles get abbreviated beyond comprehensibility, titles for tabbed windows aren't meaningful, it doesn't scale beyond 5-6 windows, and so forth. These are some of the reasons that Windows 7 moved from a window list to an application list, and are things that we are trying to address with the overview. > It's also an instant and predictable way of finding the window you > want - if something pops up or is arranged dynamically (like a hidden > alt-tab style dock or Scale style action) you have to wait and look to > find where the window you want is. Note that the window arrangement in the overview is stable - it is designed so that switching the currently active window doesn't rearrange the windows, so the hope is that you can build up a memory of how things are arranged there. > OK, here's an idea (not thought about it much): how about we get rid > of the minimize button, and replace it with a don't-minimize button. > Any window that's not got don't-minimize ticked will minimize > automatically when you select another window. But when minimized, it > will actually shrink into a thumbnail on whichever edge of the screen > (left, bottom or right) has the most space (so they can be as big as > possible), depending where the active window is. Because it visually > shrinks down you know where it is. If the active window gets too big > so the thumbnails would have to shrink down tiny to be visible then > they'll start to be covered by the active window and only come on top > on mouse over. When maximized they won't be visible. To see two > windows side by side, unminimized, you can click the don't minimize > button on one of them (although having some Windows 7 style > side-by-side thingy would be handy too). How do you see this working if the user has maximized windows so there is no free space at the edge of the screen? - Owen _______________________________________________ gnome-shell-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-shell-list
