https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=274868 Summary: integrating the application-browser into gnome main-menu Product: openSUSE 10.3 Version: Alpha 4 Platform: Other OS/Version: Other Status: NEW Severity: Enhancement Priority: P5 - None Component: Usability AssignedTo: bnc-team-screening@forge.provo.novell.com ReportedBy: christian.jaeger@rub.de QAContact: qa@suse.de With many people I am of the opinion that the current application-browser is not a long-term solution. It disrupts the work flow because it opens - with some latency - in a new window; also the sheer mass of applications per category is confusing. It would be better to browse through categories page by page and do that in the main-menu itself. Thus I'd like to make this design-proposal for the layout of an integrated application-browser. In this, I don't favour a hierachical collapsable menu. Not only novice users are regularly irritated when they move the mouse a bit too far in a sub-sub-sub-menu and the whole menu-tree collapses. The concept of the application-browser is good AFAIAC, only the implementation could be better (page-wise browsing) See the attached picture. In this proposal, categories are present on the left side of the tab, sub-menus open in a tab (recognizable only by the use of a different background-colour) on the right side. The categories scroll vertically, the applications are browsable by clicking the horizontally-pointing arrows. This is intended to keep the layout as calm as possible. Browsing through an application category goes step-by-step or better: set-by-set. Sets of tiles should appear by popularity; most-often-used applications should appear in the first set, second-most-often-used in the second set and so on. Within these sets, ordering should not change from usage to usage because that would be confusing. Also, the search-function of the main-menu should function as a filter here, like in the original main-menu. The position of 'install software' and 'Favorite Applications' in my design proposal is debatable, I think... At last, some suggestions for layout-guidelines: • The mouse should have to move short ways --> no dead space wanted, the menu should stay small. • The hierarchy of buttons is top-down and left-right: Super buttons in the top-bar, main links above submenu-links and actions, submenu-links left of actions • There is three types of click-able objects in the menu: 'super'-objects in the top bar (those aren't tiles), links (those aren't tiles and don't have symbols) and action (are tyled, have symbols) • Clicking on links changes the layout of the main frame, by either changing the whole frame or portions of it (tabs) • Links appear only within the main frame, which they change, in order to make their being connected obvious • Activities are represented by tiles. --> installing software is only an activity, too! • Sub-menus appear as links on the left side of the main-window, their collected activities as tiles on the right side • Use of tabs, consisting of a coloured background, makes it obvious to the eye that they belong to one 'set' of a link. • Sets of activities don't scroll! Use left/right-arrows to 'browse' them instead. • Lists of links do scroll (up/down-arrows) if necessary because we don't want more than one part of the main windows to change • 'Install software' is an action, too, thus it is also a tile I hope this makes some sense This bug depends on Bug 274817. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug, or are watching someone who is.