Re: [Usability] nautilus, panel, and metacity not acting as if the desktop was a single entity

[Daniel Borgmann <daniel borgmann gmail com>]

On 7/12/05, Calum Benson <Calum Benson sun com> wrote:
> FWIW, I've always thought that the desktop should really just be one big
> two-dimensional panel, with as similar capabilities and interactions to
> the panel as possible. (A direction that we're arguably headed anyway,
> with the increasing popularity of things like Konfabulator, gdesklets
> and Apple's Dashboard.)  Having two objects that share many similar
> behaviours but also have some arbitrarily different ones is a surefire
> way to screw up a user's conceptual model.

I totally agree. Interestingly, this is exactly what KDE is planning
to do with their Plasma project[1]. Basically they are taking Karamba
to the next level, so it doesn't just provide extra-widgets on the
desktop background, but everything that makes up the desktop shell.
Those widgets can be docked on the desktop, on a panel or float
around. Maybe a similar approach should be explored.

Daniel

[1] http://plasma.bddf.ca/