2 panels waste the height needed for web browsing on 16/10 screens

[Dan Trevino]

On Fri, Apr 2, 2010 at 10:17 AM, Felix Miata <mrmazda at earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 2010/04/02 14:01 (GMT+0200) Jérôme Bouat composed:
>
>> Most of the laptop screens have a 16/10 or 16/9 ratio. However, Ubuntu
>> has a default setting with 2 horizontal panels (on top and bottom of the
>> desktop).
>
>> This default desktop configuration decreases the space in height.
>> However this vertical space is usefull for browsing the web on small
>> 16/10 laptop screens (11 to 13 inches).
>
>> Maybe only 1 panel which includes the windows bar (like the Microsoft
>> Windows task bar) would be a good trade-off.
>
> Kubuntu - one bar
> Xubuntu - one bar
>
> Either can be added to an a Ubuntu system, e.g.: sudo apt-get install
> kubuntu-desktop. If they work for you: sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop.
> --

Wow.  Although i do enjoy me some kubuntu from time to time, thats
kind of an extreme answer to removing a panel.  I would also add:
byobu - one bar.

I do agree with the original premise that having 2 panels is a waste
of space and a relic of the old 800x600, 1024x768 days, however, that
ship has pretty much sailed for Lucid.  There does seems to be a long
standing [1], continuous desire [2] to make better use of space [1].
Hopefully this can be remedied in Lucid +1.

[1] http://davidsiegel.org/nautilus-simplified/
[2] http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/02/task-pooper-could-revolutionize-gnome-desktop.ars

Dan
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Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Open Standards!