Problem: GNOME’s current menu system is sub-optimal on contemporary and future computers for the following reasons:
*The horizontal menu bar in each application window takes space away from content;
*The hierarchical structure of traditional text menus makes it hard to find functions;
*Text based menus are difficult to maneuver by touch
Facts/Information:
*Global Menus place menu options along the edge of the screen, and have been shown to be more user friendly on screen sizes smaller than 22” in at least one study.
*The same study cited above stated that on screens 24” and larger, in-window menus are more effective
*Apple Co., which uses a type of Global Menu, successfully sells and markets computers in the 24” to 30” screen range.
*Notebook PC shipments (which have screens typically not in excess of 17”) exceeded desktop PC shipments in 2008
*The “Integrated Circuits Market Drivers Report” stated that in 2009, notebook PC sales will increase 13% over 2008, to 156 million, while desktop sales will drop 3%, to 143 million.
*The same above cited source projects annual notebook PC sales to exceed 264 million units by 2012, while desktop PCs will reach 178 million.
*Touch computers are becoming more common as well, and many major computer companies (Microsoft, HP, Apple) have current and future products with touch screen functionality
Assumptions:
*The prevalence of wireless internet, ease of portability, and companies’ desire to save on energy expenditures will continue to make portable PC solutions more popular into the foreseeable future.
*It is not desirable for GNOME to whole-sale copy another OS’s UI experience
*It is possible to absorb parts of another OS’s UI (where it makes sense) without copying its user experience whole-sale
*The GNOME platform is large and complex, and does not have the man-power to make extremely large UI changes in a short time.
*Touch computing and touch-based interfaces will become a popular and relatively common form of mobile computing within the next two to four years (or sooner).
Solution:
I recommend
using a text-based Global Menu system for the near future. It will be more user friendly on the smaller
computer screens that are becoming more prevalent, and will also give more room
for content. A text based Global Menu
system is also cost-efficient, as a relatively small number of man-hours could
port the existing menu system from the in-window model used today up to the top
panel. Program behavior need not copy
Apple’s OSX, and plug-ins and patches such as “window-picker” could be used to
obviate the need of a “dock”.
In the long term, I do recommend a menu system that is both Global-style and graphical in nature. I already have several working mock-ups of how they might appear, as well as a breif description of my rationale. But it would be too long an email for me to put all that here.
Regards,
Brian