Modern desktops

Posted Apr 15, 2011 16:31 UTC (Fri) by tjc (guest, #137)
In reply to: Modern desktops by madscientist
Parent article: Ubuntu reaffirms Unity plan for 11.04

For example, if FFM is enabled you could introduce a delay before the global menu is changed, when focus changes due to mouse movement (click would change the menu immediately of course). It's not ideal to be sure but it would normally be enough to allow you to use the menus.

I think that solution would probably lead to what I call "electric fence syndrome," which is the feeling of apprehension one gets when wandering too close to an electric fence, or moving one's mouse pointer too close to a mouse-over javascript menu, or working with an FTP connection with a 15-second timeout.

Personally I think the global menu ITSELF is just a wrong idea from first principles, unless you're on a pretty small screen.

Agreed. I use a Mac at work (they took away my workstation :( ), and after a year of regular use I still find global menus to be a constant nuisance. I think people who have a deliberate workflow wouldn't notice the difference, but I find any unnecessary UI interaction distracting, or in some cases even irritating.

I have a friend who maximizes all his windows and then minimizes them all except the one he's currently using. To change windows he minimizes the current window, hunts around on the task bar for the window he wants, and then restores it. It takes him about 5 or 6 seconds to change windows. Just watching the process makes me want to scream — it's like watching a 2-year-old kid throw a ball. "You can do it! you can do it! throw the ball!!!"

I expect this is the sort of user Ubuntu is targeting. They probably don't have very may users like this now, which could be a problem for them.

Modern desktops

Posted Apr 17, 2011 13:23 UTC (Sun) by madscientist (subscriber, #16861) [Link] (1 responses)

> I think that solution would probably lead to what I call "electric fence
> syndrome," which is the feeling of apprehension one gets when wandering
> too close to an electric fence, or moving one's mouse pointer too close
> to a mouse-over javascript menu, or working with an FTP connection with a
> 15-second timeout.

Heh :-)

However, it depends on whether you believe one of the main justifications for the global menu. By putting the menu at the top of the screen your menu becomes "infinitely high"; you don't need to aim your mouse, you can just throw it up the screen, since when it hits the top it will stop. If that's how it works then "electric fence syndrome" might not be such a problem.

Modern desktops

Posted Apr 18, 2011 2:34 UTC (Mon) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]

It doesn't matter how high the menu is if it switches to another app before you reach it.