sidebar and desktop concept

[Domen Vrankar <domen vrankar gmail com>]

This is my idea of how sidebar and desktop could both be integrated in gnome shell as one. This is the fourth time that I wanted to send this concept... The first three times I've changed my mind so hopefully I won't regret this post afterwards :P This is my first concept description so perhaps I made it a bit too long or screwed up something badly (forgot something or entirely missed the meaning of concept)... I know that it's a bit long description and perhaps not enough pictures for all of this but this is my daily drawing limit so there is a bit more text... Hopefully my English is good enough for this...



The images are on the link below (I'm a programmer not an artist so don't role your eyes too much because of poor graphics):

http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/



Now for the explanation:

Image 1:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">


Desktop background would still be drawn as it is now but you wouldn't be able to place icons on it (it's messy to have lots of icons on desktop  [at least on my computer...had to clean it up allot of stuff to print screen :P ] and if you want to access them you have to move windows to get to them - they are hidden most of the time so desktop hiding in my concept is nothing new).


The sidebar is drawn in the middle of the left side of main screen (nothing new here). The new sidebar is divided in three sections:

Top section shows icons of windows that are currently opened on our current workspace - intended for switching between apps on current workspace (this would eliminate the problems that non alt-tab users experience in gnome-shell when they have to use "Activities" screen to switch between windows that are on the same workspace). When we move with mouse over them they should show the window of the application (if not minimized) and blur other windows of other applications + make them grey. When we have a window selected his sidebar icon should be highlighted (not shown on the image).

Middle section contains a button for pulling out desktop (green button), temporary basket (middle element) and button for pushing desktop back in (grey button - red when it can be used). This segment will be described later in more detail.

Bottom section is intended for gadgets (like the ones mentioned in gnome-shell design pdf + icons that represent folders - I'll describe this later on...). This gadget icons are the smallest of the three versions of gadget representation (they aren't necessarily static - they can show some data). The second representation is an expanded instance (described later) and desktop instance (also described later).

Image 2:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

Just like the first one but with terminal opened... Note just that if mouse is present on one of the icons on sidebar that icon expands (the middle section of sidebar is expanded all the time).

Image 3:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

If we click on the icon the expanded instance pops up. If we move away from the icon this expanded version hides in the icon. We can prevent this by clicking on the pin in the top right corner - if pinned it stays opened but windows can still be beneath it (it is always on top except with full screen applications).

In the case of folder container gadget this shows a list of all the files contained in the folder represented by the icon. We can open the file by clicking on it or delete it with a click on the trash icon on the left. If there are more files that can be displayed then the slider on the right side can be used (Should this sidebar be present even if there is enough space to show all the files?). If we right click on a file a menu with more options for that file should pop up (not shown on the image).

Image 4:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

This image shows the temporary basket in expanded mode (temporary basket only has icon and expanded mode). The green pin indicates that we chose that this expanded segment wont close when we move away with the mouse. This basket is intended for temporary storage of files/documents/images/url-s... The side effect of this is that it can be used for moving data from one application to another or from one workspace to another (the elements in this basket are shown on all the workspaces). Elements in the basket can also be sent to other folders (either automatically by file type - user should be able to to set the automatic move of the files, or manually by right clicking on the file and selecting the destination folder). The icon on the left is intended as a distinction between elements that are only in basket as temporary elements (red cancel icon - if pressed the element is removed from the basket and gone forever) and elements that were already moved to a different location (trash can - remove from basket but the file still exists on the permanent location afterwards - yes I know the trash can icon should be replaced by something else...). Next icon from left to right indicates the type of element for better distinction. URL element also has an icon that shows the icon of the web page that it leads to.


Image 5 (sorry I switched image 5 and 6 by accident):
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

We can click on the green button and drag the desktop from left or just click on the button and the whole desktop is shown (described later) - the dragged out section doesn't hide automatically, we have to use the now red hide desktop button to do so (clicking on it hides the entire desktop, dragging it does the same as the green button - drags out or pushes in the desktop as much as we like). Note that all the application windows are pushed to the left of the screen (What should happen when they reach the end of screen?). Also note that the desktop darkens the background image a bit - this would distinct both application and desktop segments a bit more and also make elements/text on desktop a bit more readable if image would be too bright or some other thing that would make elements less visible. Note that when the expanded versions of pinned gadgets can switch to be shown on desktop they immediately do so. Note also that on the desktop there are the larger versions of gadgets that we can see in the sidebar (even so the expanded versions can still be shown like before). The idea is that the gadgets that we need more should be closer to the right side of the desktop so we can drag the desktop out only a bit and already see/use them (don't mind the eyes... They should move behind the mouse cursor but I didn't draw that...).

Image 6:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

If we deselect the pin the expansion hides.

Image 7:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

If we move to a gadget on the desktop the controls bar is displayed above them (visually it should be standard bar for all the gadgets) and their icon in the sidebar should glow (not drawn on the image). The particular gadget has the corresponding icon in the sidebar - music note is a folder gadget (folder gadget icons could be represented with a stack of documents and the specialization icon on top - chosen by user if not a system folder [like Music...]).

Image 8:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

The left button in the gadget's controls bar opens a menu (close gadget - note gadget closed here doesn't go away in the sidebar so maybe it should say hide not close in case the sidebar contains the icon and close in case that this is the only instance of the gadget; properties for the gadget; add/remove icon from the sidebar... ). The middle segment of the gadget's controls bar can be used for moving the gadget. The right button, marked with X, has the same functionality as close in the gadget's menu.

Image 9:
http://s767.photobucket.com/albums/xx320/_DoMeN_/gs-concept/?action="">

This is the view that could be present when gnome-shell starts and
hides back to only sidebar every time a new application is opened with
full screen desktop shown. Here we can see the entire desktop - only gadgets can be on the desktop (no application windows). Note that the clock gadget exists only on desktop and not on the sidebar (but can be moved to sidebar from it's menu if the user would like that).




OK we've finally reached the end. Hopefully there is at least one good idea in this concept that could help by developing of gnome-shell.

Thanks for reading :) regards,
Domen