viewport/workspace and large apps

[Adrian Custer <acuster nature berkeley edu>]

Hello all,

I was reading the archives so sorry to dredge up this interminable
discussion. This email is a suggestion about how decisions could be made
with better information in the future.


As I see it there is a a feeling that having both extra workspaces
(separate desktops) and viewports (adjacent spaces of a super desktop)
is not a good idea because it confuses new users. The choice seems to
have been made to discard viewports.

Let me point out two things:

1) viewports semantically are neat in that users can conceptualize the
space they work in as one big extended "desk". This is how I think and
work; if I need some space, I just "move over" to another part of the
desk.

2) you are only now wondering why one would want an app that is only
partially on screen but is visible in multiple virtual spaces.


I happen to feel increadibly strongly about this since this is the
single biggest reason I use gnu/linux/xfree/... I'll figure out how to
make it work if it disappears so this email is not about me wanting this
feature per say. It's a statement of how you go about answering your own
question. You are wondering: "Hey, we want to simplify here, I wonder if
anyone is using it in a way we've never thought of but that they really
need." One way to make that decision is to ask current users. I'm not
saying "do user testing." But I am suggesting that a lot of these
decisions could be made based on better information if GNOME undertook
some simple exchange with its users. Yes all the developers are users
too, but a peculiar class of users.

By the time GNOME 3.0 rolls around, the user base will be even bigger.
You might be tempted to toss out other standard parts of the desktop. I
hope you will consider asking those of us using the platform what
works/doesn't work and what we are doing with the piece you want to toss
out.

cheers,
adrian