[Deskbar] new deskbar UI
- From: "Colin Walters" <walters redhat com>
- To: deskbar-applet-list gnome org
- Subject: [Deskbar] new deskbar UI
- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:04:26 -0400
Hi,
Just took a look at the latest iteration of deskbar (2.19.90 on my system). As some of you may know we're embedding deskbar in our sidebar prototype for the online desktop.
So I guess from a high level I'm not sure I understand where deskbar is going. The mode of having a persistent entry with attached popup results seems to be gone. Instead deskbar seems to be moving more towards a transient "search" interface. Kind of like the Beagle search dialog.
Another way to phrase this is - why is there an applet at all? It seems strange to have an icon that one clicks to pop up a window where one then types. The workflow makes more sense when there is a keybinding (as exists now in Alt-F3) to show the window, then one can continue typing.
The default deskbar config (on Fedora at least) seems to be oriented mostly towards launching programs. Why not just replace Alt-F2 instead of having both Alt-F2 and Alt-F3? In other words, deskbar is a "daemon" that is always running. The selection of plugins would move to a capplet instead of a right click on the applet.
I completely understand the removal of multiple UIs; having them pluggable on that level seemed kind of unmaintainable. But the UI other than the one we use in the sidebar was chosen, so I'm a bit stuck as to what to do for the search UI in the sidebar.
To summarize here - there is a functional difference between always-visible-entry (old deskbar Entriac UI) and keybinding-pops-up-search (Cuemiac), the primary one being discoverability. How would someone new to the system know they can search? There's no way to know beforehand that typing Alt-F2 or Alt-F3 will bring up a dialog; nor would I be able to guess that clicking on the applet icon as it is now would show a search dialog.
So, are there any plans to keep the ability to have a visible search box?
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