Concept: Contextual Drop-Down Top Panel (including App-Switcher)

[Brian Fleeger <brianfleeger yahoo com>]

Currently, the top-panel and its drop down style menus seem very much rooted in the old panel + menu desktop interaction model.  GnomeShell seems to be all about removing drop-down menus and drop-down tools from within the desktop, and more about making user interaction with core OS-level tools feel like they extend outside of or beyond the desktop workspaces.  Following that line of thought, I made a series of mockups showing how the top panel could be made into a contextual tool with large buttons and more room for graphical user interaction.  Drop-down animations could feature simulated kinetic movement like inertia and recoil, and be draggable on touch screens, like a combination of the top draggable panel on Android phones and the Moblin 2.0 interface.  Interaction would be optimal in both landscape and portrait modes, and this also gives the top panel -- with all of its empty space -- a much better raison d'être as a system integrated jack-of-all-trades.

 

User Widget Mockup:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2490/4160737882_53baea7e50_o.jpg

For instance, clicking the User widget, instead of a tiny menu with an itty-bitty user picture dropping down, the panel slides down with a larger picture and larger, more finger-friendly buttons, like what you would see on a smart phone.  Further, instead of just allowing the user to change their online status, the increased room could allow users contacts and their status to be shown too, depending on the layout, going farther to integrate chat tools into the Shell.

 

Wireless Mockup:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/4160737904_8dc4f29812_o.jpg

Since it would be contextual based on where the user clicked/touched, clicking on WiFi or Bluetooth could give a row of nice large clickable icons representing different WiFi sources or local Bluetooth tools, etc.

 

Volume Mockup:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2498/4159983385_71b98de22d_o.jpg

For volume, since it is on the left end of the System Status Area with empty space next to it, I suggest an in-panel slider bar appears inside the top panel when clicked, letting users mouse along the panel itself to adjust volume.  Advanced settings could be accessed via right click, clicking elsewhere on the screen would make the slider bar disappear and the volume icon return to its unclicked state.

 

Clock Mockup:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2573/4160737946_4a75f4c680_o.jpg

Instead of clicking on the clock and having a little tiny calendar drop down over top of the desktop, the entire top panel could slide down revealing a nice big calendar, a semi-realistic world-map, and other scheduling tools that could be synched with users other software and web applications.      

 

Active Application App-Switcher Mockup:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2755/4159983415_32e6d0c3b7_o.jpg    

The Active Application button would have two uses.  A right click would let the user quit or close all windows, as well as other functions the developers have already attributed to the widget.  But I suggest a left click make the top panel drop down about 1 to 1.5 inches to reveal a mousable Activity Switcher, similar to Alt-Tab.  But instead of showing little tiny thumbnails like is currently implemented, I suggest Jeremy Perry's original design is used instead [1], where mousing over an icon reveals just that one application's windows expose style, and the background is dimmed/blurred. 

 

I believe this would be more fun to use than traditional drop-down menus, would increase usability on touch and small screens, and gives an opportunity to get away from traditional menus and into more modern spatial UI design for a lot of common desktop interaction. 

[1] http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Design/Iterations/AppSwitcher

Regards,

Brian