Mockup/Design for Browsing of Applications

[Apoorva Sharma <appi2012 gmail com>]

After following the discussion in "All Gnome Shell Developers," I had
an idea to solve some of the problems that were discussed - namely, the
problems concerning the application menu.

When looking at the current application menu, one can see that it is slow and just a hassle to use. Yet, for non-advanced users, this is the only easy method available for finding an application for a certain task.

Look in http://drop.io/7jyb3ap for the following pictures.

MoreAppsMess.png is an picture of the terrible design.

AppMenuMockup.png is a mockup that sorts the apps, and makes them
easier to find. It works very much like the KDE4 Kickoff launcher, so
the user can either click the category he/she wants, or just hover over
it for a second. The lists could scroll, just like the current app list.

Regarding the transition to this view from the regular activities view, perhaps these things could happen simultaneously after the Applications header is clicked.

• Applications arrow rotates to point down.
  
• Places and Recent Documents slide down, off the screen.
• Favorites header fades to the Active header.
• Inactive favorites fade out.
  
• App Chooser fades in.

I think this addition will clean up the current applications menu to make gnome shell to feel more like an upgrade, not a downgrade, for mouse users.

Overall though, gnome-shell is progressing nicely. If anybody needs the .xcf of the mockup, its also in the drop.

-- 
Apoorva