Re: Re : interapplication communication

[William Jon McCann <william jon mccann gmail com>]

Hey,

On Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-12-29 at 23:08 -0800, Nicolas de Fontenay wrote:
>> Hi.
>>
>> I have to side with Felipe here. We must be able to switch one
>> application to another with a mouse click.
>
> You can, of course, switch windows with a single mouse click using the
> overview :-)
>
>> I know a lot of people reluctant to use ALT + TAB. Starting by my
>> mother and dad.
>
> On the other hand, your mother and father likely switch windows far less
> than you do. The hyper-kinetic style of constantly switching between
> windows is pretty much an advanced user thing.
>
> For users that aren't constantly hopping between windows, the fact that
> the overview is slightly further away or slower isn't going to be a
> problem. My biggest concern (to be investigated in user testing) is that
> the overview might be disorienting to the slower moving class of users.
>
> Our hope is that message tray will further reduce the need to
> switch windows - that you won't need to switch windows because a new
> message came in, or your music player shuffled to a track you don't
> like. You'll only need to switch windows if you decide to do something
> different.

Exactly right.  In my view, current desktop designs are very poor in
this regard.  Users are at once bombarded with distractions and
disruptions and forced to go searching for messages and things that
are relevant.  This is backward.  Messages should come to you.
Activities that are operating in the background should inform
(politely) when necessary and be at your service.

>> But why not make it flexibe?
>>
>> Basically, anybody new to gnome shell, looking for a way to switch
>> windows will look for a place where they are listed to click on.
>> Users should be given the option of having a docking bar with
>> currently open apps:
>>     a) from the active workspace only
>>     b) from all workspace
>>     c) No dock bar at all (use of alt + tab implied)
>>
> The GNOME philosophy is really that configuration is the last resort;
> having a permanent application or window list available as an extension,
> or even an option isn't wrong, but, without changing any options, things
> have to work great. Because most users will never change options. We
> don't want to be in the situation where the word on the street is that
> GNOME 3 is great, if you know to go to the options and turn on the
> window list.
>
>> I like the current dock bar at the bottom of gnome. I can hide it if I
>> want to. I think the auto hide option is good enough.
>
> In general, I think auto-hidden stuff is not generally a good default,
> because it's well, hidden. The user has to have a good concept of what
> goes where before you can hide it away.
>
> The message tray is meant to be self-introducing, because it pops up by
> itself when something comes in. So hopefully, going back to the bottom
> of the screen will be natural to users; they'll pick up the idea that
> "messages are at the bottom"

And visible, as you'd expect, in the Activities Overview.

Jon