So how about that GNOME 2.2 interface [was Re: [Usability]A Challenge: Describe the GNOME 4.0 interface.]

[Luis Villa <louie ximian com>]

Given that we're currently in a supposed UI review phase, and given that
at least some of the people on this list are going to scream /after/ the
UI freeze about something in the GNOME 2.2 UI, and given that the
usability team has so far done exactly jack shit for 2.2 (at least
publicly) I'd really appreciate people spending some time talking about
GNOME 2.2 instead of GNOME 4.0.

I know this comes across as a touch bitter, and it is- I fought very
hard to ensure that the UI team had it's very own time where developers
could do nothing and the UI team would have a basically unopposed time
to tune the UI. Given that this time is currently being squandered, and
given that developers wanted to use this month to add more features, at
this rate I'm going to have a very tough time justifying scheduling it
in in the future.

I'm not asking for even full-blown UI reviews in IRC here- I know some
of the key people behind that are incredibly busy with work-related
stuff right now, and so they may be tough to pull off. But even just
people saying 'I'll do an HIG review of new application X, who wants to
do application Y' would be a huge start and a big help for many of our
new applications, like file-roller and galeon, or some of our
prospective apps like rhythmbox or gnome-meeting. And it would take a
very small amount of time for some of you. 

Anyway... I'm done venting. You've been given an opportunity. Seize it
or it likely won't be around in the future.
Luis


On Fri, 2002-11-08 at 11:10, Joshua Adam Ginsberg wrote:
> Dave, what's crazy is that I had like the same idea... kinda...
> 
> Forget applications... put everything within Nautilus... make everything
> embeddable... you use the Nautilus file manager to navigate your tree
> (somehow as much as database held file solutions may seem cool, I
> imagine you'll have to pry my file tree out of my cold dead hands) and
> then open a document with a specified view/editor... that component is
> then embedded within that Nautilus window... so Abiword, for example,
> becomes a view within Nautilus... Nautilus itself only has a single menu
> for navigational purposes...and Abiword merges its menu items into the
> Nautilus menu bar... and below the Navigation toolbar Abiword registers
> a view specific toolbar...
> 
> And since Galeon4 is also a view, it also integrates seamlessly into
> Nautilus...
> 
> The panel still exists, but only for non-document centric tasks...
> monitors, gAIM, clock, things of this nature...
> 
> The desktop acts more like a physical desktop in that the vFolder (yeah,
> GNOME 4 will have these with the file tree) or folder being used as the
> desktop (v)Folder is changable... it contains icons for the documents in
> the folder representing the task I'm currently working on...
> 
> Furthermore, since GNOME 4 is fully integrated with web services using
> the .GNET platform (created from the acquisition of Microsoft by
> Ximian), various monitors keep up with the changing plethora of
> information on the net... imagine GNOME 4 informing you when a new
> Slashdot or GnomeDesktop.org headline appears... or when updated
> packages are available off of Red Carpet... or when the Honorable
> Senator Richard Stallman (EFF Party - MA) has a new public statement
> about how the government is spending the billions of your tax dollars
> saved from abandoning Microsoft products...
> 
> Finally, gnome-vfs4 seamlessly unites itself with all aspects of the
> user-interface... since the merger of gAIM with GnomeMeeting, you can
> click on links within an Evolution contact or within a webpage to begin
> a webcam enabled chat with somebody else, regardless of the IM protocol
> being used... ICQ (since the implosion of AOL/TW, Mirabilis bought ICQ
> back), H.323, Jabber, you name it... gnome-terminal runs a gnash, a
> gnome-enabled shell that allows you to enter commands like "cp
> some_document.abw sftp://joshg my gnet org/Documents"...
> 
> Aah, the future looks nice...
> 
> -jag
> 
> On Fri, 2002-11-08 at 06:26, Dave Bordoley wrote:
> >  Well last nite I had this crazy idea that everything would be a nautilus
> >  view (this is purely at theoretical level since I'm not sure if nautilus
> >  is robust to support this right now or if this is even a good idea). At
> >  the shell level the only common window element is the menu bar. Common
> >  to all views is the view as menu, which lets users switch how they are
> >  viewing an object. All other menu items, toolbars, statusbars etc. are
> >  view/object dependent dependent. For most views you would have a root
> >  view (similar to nautilus' FM-directory-view) that provides the basic
> >  menu structure, toolbars etc. Other views could build upon this view to
> >  provide other functionality. 
> >  
> >  This is just one idea of an implementation (and probably wrong one but
> >  thats ok).