HI Mikkel, I have been using my custom Dash Home area for some time now (I changed it to support 15 icons, as a test) and I find it very practical to have the possibility of customizing its contents.
The underlying concept of a "shortcut" should be that it relates to the specific needs of the current user in a way that speeds up PC use or make it's use more comfortable. Pre-set shortcuts fail to address both issues. Not having shortcuts configurable anywhere in the dash also won't address this issue. (And we certainly know one of the most frequent complains of Unity users is the lack of customization possibilities right now). The launcher is limited, in the sense that it supports some shortcuts, but it gets cluttered easily as more shortcuts are added. Considering the dash button is the first place a new user will click when starting on Ubuntu, and that everyday users will click it many times, I find the shortcuts area are placed in the best possible place, but only as long as it allows for real shortcuts (that fulfill the characteristics described above). That area is properly placed and is an asset, which real value we should not disregard or eliminate. Many Ubuntu users have no idea of the existence of placed like Ubuntu.com, UbuntuForums.com, Askubuntu.com, local online communities and forums, or of the included manual that ships with the product. I feel like we can create a boost in the online Ubuntu community by placing some or any of these options right there in the shortcuts, while keeping the area customizable. Editing each user's $HOME/.dash can easily be done, not only by hand, but by a "Customize Dash Shortcuts" option in the Settings panel. Technically, it doesn't take much more than a couple hours to create an app to read and write to this file there. I feel like the "Settings" and "Customize Dash Shortcuts" icons maybe should also be in the shortcuts by default. Considering the current accusations we face, that Unity is not customizable enough, it would represent a small effort but show good will on the part of developers towards new users to: a) Have the shortcuts area customizable. b) Include an icon, in the shortcuts area, to launch the customization app. c) Include an icon, in the shortcuts area, to launch the settings panel. d) Include an icon, in the shortcuts area, to open the offline manual. e) Include an icon, in the shortcuts area, to open ubuntu.com or ubuntuforums.com. Also, now talking about how companies use Ubuntu: When I look at professional implementations of Ubuntu, in talks with CIOs, I know they don't want to have "Play Music", View Photos", "Have Fun", etc as the first thing their employees will see on Ubuntu. They want to have shortcuts to professional applications, such as ERP, CRM, Intranet Portal, etc. If we eliminate this shortcuts area, we will depend exclusively on companies creating launcher shortcuts for these. Why not use the existing shortcuts area to provide for such need? I do value John's Option #1. I think it would be wonderful if would have a symbol of a "Clock" in the lenses bar that displays such information (recent dloads, recent apps, recent docs, recent *). But I still find the option to have real, user customized shortcuts, as the first thing one sees one pressing the dash button, as a step towards making Unity more productive and friendly. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/885738 Title: Dash - Remove Dash Home shortcut icons To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/885738/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
