Re: Gnome-Shell - questions and opinions



On 12/31/2010 01:42 AM, Nex6 wrote:
On 12/29/2010 02:50 PM, Giovanni Campagna wrote:
Il giorno mer, 29/12/2010 alle 14.17 -0800, Nex6 ha scritto:
hi all,

First I would like to say great work on Gnome/Gnome-shell. I loaded
Gnome-Shell on Fedora 14 and messed arround with it for awhile. I also,
poked around the NET, and the archives of this list (just joined today).
Current (2.91.4 / git master) gnome-shell experience is very different
from the Fedora 14 packaged one (2.31.5). You should use jhbuild to get
the latest version, follow instructions at
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell#building


as soon as I get a chance I will upgrade to the latest.
But I sadly, I agree with those that think the use patterns/work-flows
of Gnome-Shell is not right. I really like the "control center" and the
lay-out under your user name. but the whole, activities, pop/zoom thing
click click click. just does not work. it would force you to create
shortcuts on the desktop. just to avoid that mess, the idea of a desktop
environment is to help the users with their work-flow. I am not saying
Gnome should copy OSX or windows. but, don't go off the deep end
different just to be different from them. when flipping around the
shell, the constant changing and zooming started to give me a headache.
While being different is a marketing point, as it marks the reason for
switching to GNOME, gnome-shell is not different for the sake of beign
different, every design decision (including the most discussed ones, and
including those still under discussion) have been made for its merits.
Moving in particular to the zooming effect exposed by the Activities
button, this has been reported many times by various users, but it is
explicitly part of the design, as the purpose of that mode is to give an
overview (hence the technical name, "Activities Overview") of active
windows, applications, and tasks (in the future,>  3.1, it will have
contacts, desktop search, zeitgeist logging, etc.).
Still under discussion is the behaviour wrt window management inside the
workspace. Some proposals concentrated on gesture-based window
management + shading of minimized windows (possibly shading to icon
only), other instead wanted a gesture or button to emulate Alt-tab, or
showing the favourite application list on the left of the workspace.


while I, as a Systems Design Engineer fully understand the "its by design" reasoning and although I have not seen the latest builds the paradigm that Gnome-Shell brings does not necessary mean that its correct. in fact, the OSX influences are very apparent. and for the record I don't like them in OSX either... why should after I login by default getting to my first application is two clicks at least? (unless I create a desktop shortcut?)

and the whole, copying OSXs application view (which I think is terrible in OSX) is likewise a bad idea. if it was combined with a category like view it would be fine but the whole OSX likeness is flawed. and is less useful then even OSX as I can turn off expose in osx.

while Gnome shell brings alot of good things that could be great, the workflow and use patterns
seem very flawed. (at least with the build I have seen).

if your going to try and be different the windows and OSX, at least offer productivity gains
not costs....


ok, why not:

make the activities a drop down menu/sidebar with no zooming, or better
yet make it optional/move the zoom some where else.
The main point of the Activities Overview is to show all the windows at
the same time, so this does not make sense in the current design.

flawed, if its the main view your interacting with. you can not add icons to the taskbar only the desktop. and using alt-tab is now broken as if I have 4 terminal windows open the alt tab on loads all of them does not flip thru them as single windows.


next:

make it possible to add icons/shortcuts to the top menu bar. infact make
it easy to do so like add a right click menu item under add to
favorites, as add to top menu. (make it movable)
Why clobbering the top menu bar, when adding a favourite is just as
clean and fast?
(I'm referring to the new overview layout here, 2.31.5 still has the old
layout, please update to see what I mean)

again its flawed, as it makes everything two clicks, why? and forces you into the expose like zooming
which screws with your eyes and focus.
also in the same vain, add a, "add to desktop item"
The desktop (as the icon view behind the windows) is going to die,
either in 3.0 or 3.2. We should not add more features to it.
wow..  yup true design productivity lets over design just because we can.

id like to clarify this, I was not intending to be harsh or rude. but as an Engineer I see alot of stuff people do just because its cool not because it was best for the user. I guess I am "colored" by some of the bad stuff I see (and i see alot). so please take it with a grain of salt.....


ok, that's good for now as I explore Gnome Shell I will add more.
Thanks for your time reporting, it is always useful getting feedback
before gnome-shell is released.

thanks....

Giovanni



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