Re: The Panel needs simplification

[Dave Bordoley <bordoley msu edu>]

On Sun, 2002-10-20 at 10:41, MArk Finlay wrote:
> On the Gnome User's Board were constantly getting questions about panels
> like "How do I move my menu panel" and "why are there no settings for
> the menu panel". So pretty much the usual stuff.

Here's some food for thought. If the menu panel really serves as the
desktop menus, than shouldn't menu's always be at the top of the desktop
window (like in every other window). I'm not professing that this train
of thought is correct, but one could argue that the menu panel should
always be on the screen and non-removable.

I would like us to at least give this some thought, though I admit I'm
not against moving to an edge panel + menubar applet if it is decided
that consistency among panels is more important (in fact I've file a few
bugs related to this).

> 
> I know that it has been discussed a lot but are there actually any plans
> to:
> 
> 1. Remove the idea of Panel Types and just have one panel with
> intelligent behavior and a few more options.

Nod...

> 
> 2. Turn the menu panel into a normal panel with the menu applet.
> 

see above...

> 3. Add a Preferences menu with desktop preferences and system tools.
> 

This was discussed on usability a month or two ago and there is an open
bug. No real resolution though on what should be done.

> 
> Also one thing that I havent heard mentioned is how confusing it is that
> when you right click on a launcher and click help it brings up panel
> help.

yeah that certainly seems broken and definately breaks the object
metaphor of context menus. Probably should file a bug on that.

> I think that this item should be removed, but also the panel menu
> should be a sub-menu when you click on a launcher. That way you can
> easily get to panel help and options.

a panel submenu is a bad idea, and indeed the hig explicitly states that
context menus should not include sub-menus (the fact that we rely on
context menus for adding and removing panels and their objects is bad
too).

dave