Re: Improving the shell [was Re: merging applets]

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo novell com>]

On Fri, 2006-07-07 at 16:07 +0100, Thomas Wood wrote:
> Calum Benson wrote:
> > On 7 Jul 2006, at 12:39, Calum Benson wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> http://gnome.org/~calum/screenies/cc-panel.png
> >> http://gnome.org/~calum/screenies/cc-places.png
> >>
> >> In both cases, the search box would search more than just the name of
> >> the capplet-- ideally a description and perhaps the text labels in  
> >> each
> >> window, too.
> >>     
> >
> > Okay, so I didn't actually have a search box in the second one :)  No  
> > reason why you couldn't, though.
> >
> > Caveat: personally I still don't really like this sort of  
> > "categorised table" layout-- IMHO it's just too hard to visually scan  
> > through and find what you're looking for, as first you have to play  
> > guess-the-category, and then you have two dimensions to deal with  
> > through rather than one.
> >   
> I would tend to agree about the scanning, but I think as long you don't 
> need to scroll, and the icons stay in fixed position (i.e. do not start 
> wrapping), then it may be ok. Therefore I would prefer the second mock 
> up (cc-places), since it doesn't require any scrolling, and there are 
> few enough items in the categories that we could probably keep the 
> dialog at a fixed width. I'm not quite sure about the usefulness of 
> being able to add bookmarks, but I can see it could be useful if you 
> find yourself often using the same capplet (such as Theme or 
> Networking). Mac OS X has a similar bookmarking ability, and I have 
> actually used it there.
> 
> I think the most important thing to do is to create a usable 
> control-center shell. It seems this is what users expect to see, and 
> they don't like using the menu (it always perturbed me slightly too). 
> The gnuLinEx distribution in Spain (used in government offices and 
> schools) created their own custom shell because of this, and Novell have 
> done the same. Combining the applets could be a longer term goal, but I 
> think replacing the current menu list with a nice control center shell 
> would not only be more advantageous, but also easier in the short term.
> 
yeah, indeed. So, Scott (NLD control center author), are you around?
Could you comment on what would be needed for including your control
center upstream?
-- 
Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo novell com>