Re: Should GNOME Get a Global Application Menubar?

["Christian F.K. Schaller" <uraeus gnome org>]

Hi Thom,
I don't have strong feelings on this subject, but I guess if one wants
to use a poll as an argument for why something is important enough to
warrant inclusion I think the question should instead have been:

'If GNOME had an option for a global menubar would you use it as your
default?'

If such a poll had yielded a high yes percentage I think it would be a
clearer indication that this is a feature of importance and interest to
a lot of users.

As Behdad pointed out the current question doesn't really provide that
useful information as its only provides you with an positive option that
has no downside from a users point of view.

The only real indication that people care about this feature is in my
opinion not from the question in the poll, but the fact that 1154 people
bothered to vote at all.

Christian 

On Fri, 2007-05-18 at 13:28 +0200, Thom Holwerda wrote:
> Hi boys and girls,
> 
> 
> Yesterday, I posted a poll on OSNews [1] about the possible inclusion  
> of a patch (i.e. as presented in bug #353076 [2]) that provides GNOME  
> with the option (via a panel applet) of using a global application  
> menubar setup, similar to i.e. Mac OS, Amiga, or KDE. The poll  
> question was:
> 
> "Should this patch (or any other patch providing similar  
> functionality) be integrated into the default installation of GNOME,  
> as an option, *turned off by default*?" (yes/no)
> 
> Note the emphasis on "option", and "turned off by default". The poll  
> results show that 80% of the OSNews readers who voted (1154 votes  
> cast as of writing) would like to see this included in GNOME.  
> Obviously, the statistic validity of such a poll is limited, since  
> the readers of OSNews do not qualify as a representative group of  
> GNOME users. However, that does not negate the fact that this result  
> does give a rough indication of how "wanted" such a patch actually is.
> 
> More interesting are the comments posted on this story (150 as of  
> writing). A lot of arguments were posted both in favour and against  
> the patch. These range from application of Fitts' Law and similar  
> laws, compatibility problems with other toolkits, to less screen  
> clutter, problems concerning multiple monitors, and optimal use of  
> GNOME's dual-panel layout. The comments actually remained fairly  
> civil, so contrary to many other GNOME/KDE related threads, your  
> faith in mankind won't be affected this time.
> 
> I am not trying to push any of you either way. I'm just giving you  
> the results of the poll, as well as comprehensive list of arguments  
> in favour and against. Do with it as you please.
> 
> Thanks for the hard work you boys and girls put into GNOME, it is  
> much appreciated,
> 
> 
> Thom Holwerda
> ---
> Managing editor at http://www.osnews.com
> 
> 
> [1] http://www.osnews.com/story.php/17932/Should-GNOME-Get-a-Global- 
> Application-Menubar
> [2] http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=353076
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