Re: [Usability] Foobar Menu Layout

[Mark Finlay <sisob eircom net>]

> 	* I think the "Desktop" term is a little vague, but I can see where the
> confusion around "Actions" come from. Desktop would certainly get my
> vote over "System" in any case ...

System seemed really alien to me until I actually look at what was
inside. And in the general vain of trying to remove the distinction
between the desktop and the system I think it makes sense.

System->Settings - We're going to have both system and desktop settings
here, and the desktop is a subset of the system at the end of the day so
it make sense. And it makes a hell of a lot more sense than
Desktop->Settings containing system settings.

System->Tools - Rock - another homeless item gone from the applications
menu.

System-Find Files - Well you aren't limited to searching for files on
the desktop. Makes sense IMHO

System -> Run Program - makes more sense than 'Desktop->Run' program to
me.

System -> Lock Screen & System -> Log out - make sense really when the
system == desktop.

The only problem is the menu items that didn't make it - screenshot and
recent files.

Overall I think that System is better than desktop is better than
actions. And you can't have system items in a desktop menu but you can
have desktop items in a system menu.

hehe we could have: Applications Desktop System Help
;)

> 	* I'm not sure whether there is huge value to adding a Help menu. I
> think its more a convenient location for vendor marketing than anything
> else ... This is prime real estate on your screen yet I don't really see
> it containing anything that fits into the "frequent by many" category.

I think the value is that users are not going to thing of looking for a
help application they just want "help". So have a menu by it self makes
it a lot more likely that people will find it when they need it. And it
is one less irrelevant item in application menu. Also it would be a good
place to put about gnome.

> 	* Same thing with having a "Desktop Preferences" menu. That takes up
> even more space and probably falls into the "Occasional by Many"
> category. I agree that it doesn't belong in "Applications". If we do the
> s/Actions/Desktop/ thing, perhaps we could move it there ...

Yeah, I think that Desktop is probably a good place for it. But it
should not be a menu ;) See other e-mail

> 	* I've been using the menu bar on my bottom panel in the left hand
> corner for quite a while now and I think it works really well. Vendors
> seem pretty well split between the "start menu" location and the "Mac
> OS" location ... but at least if we were using the same widget in these
> locations we would have some sort of commonality between distributions.

Hmm, people are pretty well use to having menus at the top of the screen
and buttons at the bottom. They might find it very alien having a menu
at the bottom of the screen..

> 	* I too abhore the menu stripe ... its definitely one of those
> occasions where the marketing folks through the usability folks out the
> window.

It may be a total waste of space, but I think it looks nice. Could we
make it a gconf key disabled by default with a view to encorperating it
into "Desktop Themes" in the future? Would at the very least mean that
ximian and people who want to use it wouldn't have to maintain patches.
If we want to conquer the world marketing folks are here to stay..

-- 
Mark Finlay <sisob eircom net>