My humble as possible improvement suggestion for Gnome Interface is in direction of reduction of mouse path along the day.
I got myself using largelly the 'option' key on the keyboard. But it does not impaired me to track the mouse path until the icon on the left and the sound on the right and over the calendar and so on. I don't change the area frequently, but I also do and it is on the right. So I started to think if the Activities would be centralized with the calendar and the other icons of control. It would become like this:
Playground(2f)CenteredActivities/activities_top_icons.jpg "activities_top_icons.jpg"){kind=icon}
Then, as one change impact in the positioning of the other elements, I would need to put the bar of icons below and centralized too. and then I perceived naturally more space on it:
Playground(2f)CenteredActivities/activities_top_icons_free_space.jpg "activities_top_icons_free_space.jpg"){kind=icon}
I could have more programs or what I would suggest, the last files used. This is nice because at ends of sessions, updates or turn outs it would be not necessary to open everything again. It would be something like this:
Playground(2f)CenteredActivities/activities_top_icons_last_opened.jpg "activities_top_icons_last_opened.jpg"){kind=icon}
Finnaly, the sequence for search becomes more logic, because I then click on Activities and then search for the frequent programs. If I want to advance, I can click for all the programs or do a search below, everything in the same area:
Playground(2f)CenteredActivities/center_controls_search.jpg "center_controls_search.jpg")
That's the end of my first contribution. Please, let me know what you think. Any feedback feeds back and improve my desire to contribute.
Cheers,
Claudio.
Comments
Hey Claudio, I agree there is room to reduce mouse distance in the shell. Some comments here:
you may be interested in learning about Fitts's law: there is no hope for the top hot corners to be drop for no better reason than reducing mouse path;
- imho, the grid icon should not move as we add app icons to the dash. This is a flaw of the current design and seems to be the case in your mockups. Wether we have 0 apps or 10 apps in the dash, the grid icon should be in the same place;
- horizontal dash could be a good idea to me, it would remind the message tray on top of the screen. However, it feels weird with the vertical workspaces list;
- if you want to put last files in the overview, I don't think the dash is the appropriate place for that. Dash already holds fav apps and running apps, adding recent files would turn it in a complete mess
-- MathieuJourdan 2014-01-30 09:15:33
Hi Mathieu. First of all, thank you for your comments.
- With a correlation of more than .9 ! Fitt's law appears to be really a law! Very interesting! Thanks a lot.
- In reference with the grid I understood (1).
- I agree totally - the vertical workspaces list appears weird on the side.(2)
- Again I agree about the mess.(3) I will try one approach here refering this question (3) and the grid into the dashboard (1) at same time and then upload it.
About the workspaces (2) nothing came to me to maintain it in the same space and appears nice. But let me think a little. This weekend I will make some tests.
-- ClaudiodeAlmeida 2014-02-04 22:35:00