Re: [Usability] Reasoning behind default panel setup?

[Steve Frécinaux <nudrema gmail com>]

David Tenser wrote:

> This is what I'm proposing, basically: http://djst.org/files/gnomepanel/

> I provided screenshots for two different resolutions, 800x600 and
> 1024x768. For safety, I also provided screenshots with the workspace
> switcher included.

It looks usable. Anyway I'm still sceptic about the 32px height. It
seems it wastes lots of space, especially since the icons from the
window list have kept their previous size. It should grow from 16x16 to
24x24 to look better, souldn't it ?

You replaced the 3-item menu bar with a simple menu. Are you thinking of
rearranging it or do you propose to use the current one ?

I don't honnestly like that old-fashioned menu and prefer the current
one. Here are the main reasons :
 - Places submenu is something I often use, and people who don't use the
   CLI surely do so. Using it is easier with the bar.
 - Bar labels are self-describing. You know you'll find apps in the app
   menu, and places in the places menu. On the other hand, the old menu
   has no label and it is not obvious it is a menu, especially if you
   are not used to.
Anyway the menu bar takes more place so it surely fits worse in a
single bar panel.

There is no net/wifi applet, and, more important, notification area
(which is required for apps like gaim, rhythmbox) is missing.

So at the moment I still believe current default is better than your
proposal.


I didn't tell you what panel layout I'm using. In fact it vary quite
often. Now I only have one (24px, on top), and here is what it looks
like :
 - window selector (useful when you don't remember on which desktop
   a window is)
 - Gnome menu bar
 - various often-used launchers (~10)
 - a notification area
 - battery, network and cpu monitor
 - volume selector
 - clock

As you can see, I only have one panel, no window list and no desktop
selector. But, well, I'm a power user which loves his keyboard :-) I use
<Meta><Fx> to switch to xth desktop, <Alt><tab> to switch windows, etc.