

Window indicators for Ubuntu ("windicators") - ARR
http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/333

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pavlov
Finally a sensible explanation for why the window title bar widgets were moved
to the left in Ubuntu 10.04.

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windsurfer
It might make more sense for window controls to also be status applets, since
not all windows can be minimized, maximized, or closed. For instance, if a
particular window is no longer needed and only showing some completed action,
the close button could turn green. If there's an error, it could turn red. If
a process could take a long time, a progress bar could appear and the minimize
button could turn green. If a web browser could show a web page better with
fullscreen, the maximize button could turn blue. This would follow the applet
colour coding scheme.

One could even add some custom window commands (such as resize to content) to
their applications.

~~~
DrSprout
>since not all windows can be minimized, maximized, or closed.

This is one of the worst usability problems on the desktop. Granted, it
doesn't show up in the "default configuration" but do a little thing like
change the text size and that dialog box that won't let you resize suddenly is
completely broken.

Though I suppose this is part of a bigger problem, that changing fonts is by
design a "power user" feature.

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windsurfer
In Gnome, all windows can be resized.

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bensummers
The end result of a full screen interface with minimal chrome for devices with
small screens is great.

It's interesting how we've gone a full circle right back to full screen single
tasking apps. Perhaps this is the iPhone's influence?

Maybe we'll finally get the purple button in the next Mac OS X?
[http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2000/02/mac-os-x-
dp3.ar...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2000/02/mac-os-x-dp3.ars/5)

~~~
loup-vaillant
It could be the iPhone. Or just Apple's old interfaces. Or tiling window
managers, whose philosophy is to maximize screen usage by default. For
instance, the Netbook edition smart panel example would integrate beautifully
with Xmonad.

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budu3
Mark Shuttleworth uses Balsamiq Mockups. That's a great endorsement for
Balsamiq.

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bcl
Ick! So they are taking the functionality of dock/bar icon apps and
reproducing it in each window title bar? Seems needlessly complicated and
cluttered to me. I prefer a simple, streamlined design myself.

~~~
lincolnq
Analogously:

Ick! So they are taking a chunk off the bottom of the window for a couple
icons that could just as well have lived in the title bar? Seems needlessly
complicated and cluttered; just put all the icons in one place.

~~~
barnaby
I like that! Put more stuff in the title bar of the app.

Except, in Netbook Edition when you expand an application you no longer see
its title bar.

~~~
ElliotH
The plan I believe for Netbook edition is to incorporate these icons into the
global menu.

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sandGorgon
I am not sure why this particular UI layout (and the infamous left-side
buttons were at all necessary). There is another equally viable alternative,
without all the complex re-engineering needed for "client side window
decorations".

let the window controls and buttons stay as they were pre-lucid. The left side
button – the window control menu – will glow/shine when the application window
has updated a status. Clicking on the window control button will show a drop
down that has (in addition to the “To Desktop”,”Resize”, “Maximize”, etc.) an
alerts subsection. Clicking on the events in the alerts subsection will behave
exactly the way windicators work in the above design.

Cons: rather than have all indicators in front of you at all times, you have
to take the bother of clicking the window control button (or press alt-
spacebar). Pros: My mother doesnt need to be puzzled about what the green
shiny button is supposed to indicate, in the drop down, I can have text as
well as an icon.

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dman
Ubuntu user here. I am a bit wary of this change because it breaks the visual
consistency from a desktop POV. In theory this idea is great if people used
the same icons and conventions. Sadly consistency is not one of linux'es
strong points. I fully expect java, tk, qt, gnome, wxwidgets to each design
their own window decorators which behave / appear ever so different. Perhaps
it would have been better to expose some inbuilt "Windicators" via a DBus
service and applications that wanted to show a windicator could set a message
to the DBUS service. To be fair maybe the Ubuntu folks have a perfect design
for this, but since they havent released it its hard to be optimistic. edit to
add more pessimism - This will only make life more difficult for tiling window
managers like ratpoison, xmonad, awesome that dont support window decorators,
because many apps will go ahead and just assume the presence of a window
decorator on every window.

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viraptor
I still don't get it. Why change the position of the controls and put
indicators there? Why not use the left side for the indicators and remove the
`arrow`?

Maybe I'm becoming one of the tinfoil hat people, but: They change the
controls position and allow the application itself to draw the windicators.
Application knows nothing about the controls position or the theme really, so
it's possible that ubuntu applications will simply draw on the right. Suddenly
people have to patch the applications to use them on another distribution and
use themes that match what ubuntu apps try to do... Did I miss something?

All of this seems weird again when they presented screenshots with ~6 icons in
the notification area as a "bad" example and now they put the same amount of
icons per application (where applications can use their own icon styles).

~~~
Qz
I think the ~6 icons was to demonstrate the color scheme
(red/green/blue/black) described later in the article.

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motters
Hey Mark, it would have been a good idea if you'd mentioned this in the
context of the whole "buttons on the left" debacle. At least then there would
have been some justification for the UI change other than the nebulous "frees
up space nicely on the right".

Maybe he just enjoyed watching the ensuing drama.

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unfair
The Ubuntu changes make me cringe - I like how windows are now, and this sort
of change makes me hesitant to upgrade.

I like using Ubuntu, but several times when I've upgraded it trashed my
system, or features didn't work right on an upgraded system while they did on
a fresh install.

Those are the issues I think they need to work on - making it flawless for the
masses to use. A bad upgrade experience for a normal user and they'll go
running back to Mac/Windows. On top of that changing things like this will
make it harder for normal users to find the buttons they're used to.

I'm not anti-progress, but it seems like you should make significant changes
_after_ you have a large market share.

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w1ntermute
_I'm not anti-progress, but it seems like you should make significant changes
after you have a large market share._

They're already the Linux distro with the greatest desktop market share. What
more do you want them to wait for?

~~~
unfair
Something higher than single digit percentages. Firefox, for instance.

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naner
Interesting but looks cluttered.

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gcb
im all for inovation. But his example was the worst.

Removing the status bar from the browser and using more space on the title?

Ive been using no title on my browser (go gtkrc) even before chrome. Because
the tabs do the same work as the title (display page title) plus added
funtionality. So its only natural to remove the title bar. Not add stuff
there.

Also everyone uses xterm titles as a status bar.

~~~
btmorex
I thought the example of per application volume control/mute was pretty
useful.

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bitwize
Wait, what?

You want to clutter up the window title bar with more garbage?

This is why Mac OS X is the only viable desktop Unix. Apple knows how to
distinguish between the simple, elegant, and _useful_ and the eye candy which
distracts and interferes with attention.

~~~
barnaby
Why do I have the creeping suspicion that you haven't ever even used Ubuntu,
and are just using this as a platform for your Mac fanboyism?

I LOVE Mac, but let me tell you, with this latest release, I LOVE Ubuntu more!

