Unity interface

[NoOp]

Apologies to all for the length of the following reply.

On 03/07/2011 12:23 PM, Alan Pope wrote:
> On 7 March 2011 01:24, NoOp <glgxg at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> Well Alan, no I don't. If I find time I'll start next week.
>>
> 
> Great! Many bugs seem to not actually be Unity ones, but Compiz bugs.
> Of course it's a bit tricky to tell one from the other, but the good
> news is that we do actually ship the classic GNOME 2-panel setup as an
> alternate login option. So if a user does find a problem with the UI
> in Unity, they could potentially help diagnose whether it's Unity or
> Compiz by simply logging out and logging in again, but with "Classic
> GNOME".
> 
>> IMO it's not getting better. The basic premise of swapping everyone over
>> to Unity (modified Gnome3) as default is just plain wrong (IMO).
> 
> It's GNOME 2.x based, not GNOME 3.

Thanks for the clarification.

> 
>>  I
>> certainly wouldn't mind if 11.04 concentrated on fixing broken crap from
>> 10.10
> 
> Such as?

Oh, your standard bugs that get marked as 'Fixed', but unfortunately
only get fixed in the pre-releases; fixed in Natty for example, but then
take an act of <diety> to get "backported" to current releases (maverick).

> 
>> and offering Unity as an alternate. But to use 11.04 (a "LTS" btw)
>> as a testing ground for showcasing Unity as default? Give it a rest.
>>
> 
> It's not LTS. 12.04 is slated to be the next LTS release.

Thanks for the correction (and Liam as well). My mistake.

> 
>> You see Alan, I'm used to Gnome2 and have gotten to the point that I'm
>> actually productive with a G2 desktop.
> 
> Me too, I really like the two-panel GNOME setup that I've been using
> for 6 years.

And I see a significant issue with not having that luxury. For example;
I open SeaMonkey in G2 and keep multiple mail/news/browser windows open,
see:

http://img840.imageshack.us/f/screenshot9sw.png/
[click to enlarge & scroll to the bottom]

I can easily click on any of those, or use Alt-Tab to change.

In Unity if I attempt to do the same, I have to use the SeaMonkey menu
to select the window. I can of course use Alt-Tab, but afterwards I have
no immediate idea about which/how many windows I actually have open. See:

http://img820.imageshack.us/i/screenshot4wz.png/
[again, click to enlarge]

The inability to have that bar with windows that I can use is, for me, a
complete show stopper. Also, note that the lack of a top tool bar where
I can dock an application for monitoring cpu, temps, etc., with a single
glance is as well. Not to mention being able to launch an docked
application with out losing focus on the application that I am currently
using. For example; if I want to launch LibreOffice while viewing a
SeaMonkey (or Firefux page) in Unity, I first must move the mouse to the
upper left corner, let it hover for a second or two, figure out if I
actually have LO 'docked' as I can't see otherwise, and if so then click
it. On G2, I see that it's there move the mouse & click. Note: I can
also hide/unhide my G2 panels with a single click as well, so I already
have the option to maximize viewable real estate.

...snips
> 
>> Perhaps if Unity allowed me to create/control a taskbar, or
>> simply use a mouse scroll wheel to look at all the exciting 99
>> applications instead of having to use a side bar,
> 
> That's a known bug, being worked on by my friend Gord.
> 
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/721447 "Unable to scroll in
> Applications/Files and Folders Place using mouse wheel"

Tell him it's working in Gnome 3.

> 
>> or tell me what one of
>> the 99 apps were by positioning my mouse over one (let's see I have
>> multiple versions of the same app installed - but can't tell which is
>> which as they all just list the title), or... I *might* consider
>> spending time with it. (how's that for a run on sentence?)
>>
> 
> I have multiple versions of Firefox installed and the version number
> is in the description of the icon.
> 
> http://www.mail-archive.com/ayatana-dev@lists.launchpad.net/msg00060.html

Well... it must be some form of magic then, as I can only get the
versions onto the left panel if I create a desktop launch icon with
descriptions, and then dock to the left panel. There seems to be no way
to edit the panel icons otherwise.

> 
> "We give the name of the application because, if you don't know the icon,
> there's absolutely no way to know what it is otherwise. We dropped
> tooltips elsewhere because they were by-and-large trying to convey
> overly-detailed information."

If so, then the application descriptor should show in the same maner of
tooltips. Show me a screenshot of yours (in the Applications window) &
let me know how you managed to label them.
...