Re: Idea for the maximize, minimize and close icons

[Fernando <ferkiwi gmail com>]

2009/7/6 José Luis Ricón <artirj gmail com>:
> Take a look a thttp://www.gnome.org/~mccann/shell/mockups/20090630/00-main-scene.png
> .
> The icon is displayed on the topbar, or, as you say, it can also be
> displayed on the titlebar.

That's nice. It looks a bit like the breadcrumbs idea.
I would still like having the icon in the window title too, though.

> When going maximized, I think the decoration should stay there unless
> we use the special fullscreen mode(Like View->Fullscreen)
> The alternative place for those controls(IF needed, because those are
> almost never used, or at least by the common user). Always on top can
> be moved to the preferences menu and the other ones are available
> while in the overlay mode.

But in fullscreen you can't see the notification panel, you can't see
the clock, can't click on activities/user and you can't have the left
sidebar (in case that the sidebar option is enabled).

Also, when you maximize in a layout like the one described the window
title information will be mostly duplicated information (you already
can see the window title at the top bar). This is taking a whole line
of space just for holding 2 buttons, wasn't it one of the goals of
gnome-shell to save screen space and make the desktop more usable in
small screens and netbooks?

> By hotcorner I mean that easiest spots to reach in a UI are the
> corners, since that just require a quick mouse movement. Making the
> buttons bigger and maybe giving them some friction would make them
> IMHO, easier to reach.

I agree that making the buttons bigger will make it easier to reach,
what I'm not sure about is if moving minimize to the corner does make
it easier, the quick mouse movement has to be bigger to reach a
corner, and most people won't be accustomed to the left corner for
minimizing.
On the other hand, it will probably help avoiding hitting the wrong
button (close the window when you wanted to minimize it), so perhaps
it's a good idea.

Anyway, whatever the decision on this matter is, please don't remove
the functionality of the window menu that pops-up when you press
Alt-space I've grown accustomed to pressing chained keybindings like:

Alt-space c - for closing
Alt-space x - for (un)maximizing
Alt-space t - for always-on-top

Whatever the final button layout is, don't change the keyboard
functionality for worse.

Thanks
--
Fernando