Written by PaddyLandau the 14 Jan 12 at 18:30.
New
For years, I have wondered about being able to sign on to any computer (even a library one) and have your own desktop appear.
Imagine my surprise when I loaded the preview version of Windows 8 in Virtual Box to find that Microsoft will be doing exactly that! Well, OK, not quite any computer, but along those lines.
Microsoft's method is to let you log in to Windows using your Microsoft Live ID (subject to Administrator approval), and synchronise your desktop settings.
This is, of course, opt-in (imagine the privacy implications if it were not).
I think that Ubuntu would be well placed to do something similar.
I want additional window resizing options so I can do this (without the use of keyboard shortcuts):
§1: I want to be able to quickly maximize a window vertically (tall) while retaining its width. This is how I prefer my browser.
§2: I want to be able to quickly maximize a window horizontally (wide) while retaining its height. This is how to prefer my terminal with a tailing log file.
§3: I want to be able to quickly maximize a window vertically (tall) and have it aligned with the right edge of my desktop. This is where I prefer my chat contact list.
(Try and move a window to the right edge of your desktop and watch it resize to fill the right half of the screen, and you'll get the idea of what I want.)
Written by tryfonaration the 22 Oct 11 at 11:53.
New
I don't think that there is an easy-to-find, simple and straightforward way of activating certain extremely useful and productivity-enhancing graphical (Compiz) features when the user's mouse pointer hovers over screen edges. Features such as the Windows Picker, Show Desktop, Show Workspaces, Show Widget Layer etc.
As far as I know the only application which offers such a functionality is CompizConfig Settings Manager, which is anything but easy-to-use and easy-to-find and Ubuntu Tweak which, on the other hand, realizes it in an extremely elegant way, as it should be.
I believe that there should be somewhere in the core Ubuntu interface a link to a small settings application with this specific purpose and interface as simple and elegant as Ubuntu Tweak's Compiz Settings screen.
Written by ginjaninja405 the 24 Feb 11 at 14:14.
New
The problem with scrolling on a laptop is that it feels very cramped tracing a line on the side of the trackpad, and the multi-touch features are poor in their response when trying to use two-finger scrolling or something, most of the time the multi-touch trackpads aren't even implemented yet. The Macbooks do it fairly well, but I'm saying that it could be easier than that, it should flow better and be more like interacting with the page directly. Smartphones have an advantage because your touch interacts with the page directly. I'm suggesting we find something as easy as that.
This was originaly a rather stunning fonction integrated to some NEC screens. NEC called that technology "auto-bright". I thought we could adapt the concept in software. Excessive or insufficient brightness tires the eyes. Therefore, as some pages are white (as google) and others are dark, the only way to keep the best setting is to compensate this frequent color variation by the appropriate brightness correction. This could also improve the autonomy of laptops.
This idea is similar to (but not as drastic as) the following idea (http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/16655/). Why not integrate Compiz with out of the box Ubuntu? Compiz is a stand out tool which can enhance the Ubuntu UI to the point that its better than MAC or Windows.
The thing is (as a recent Windows convert myself), new users will have to go looking for compiz and install it. If they dont know about it then could be stuck with a boring stock Ubuntu UI (and quickly flee back to Windows before realizing the Ubuntu potential).
Many people want to try linux and ubuntu because they've heard of it and one thing people often hear about linux is the desktop cube which (seems so exiting).
It is currently not that easy to get a desktop cube in ubuntu if you don't know the systeme. You need to install a specific package (compiz-config) and in the first place search the internet to actually know this is the thing to do.
We should make desktop cube easily accessible in ubuntu beacause it atracts people.
There's so many options, I really need to make it easier to make my ubuntu desktop to have nicer efect without loosing hours trying to make to look it good and with pretty efects.
System->Prefs->Appearance->Visual Effects has three choices: None, Normal or Extra.
If Compiz Config Settings Manager (CCSM) is not installed, those choices do make sense.
However, once the user installs CCSM, it would be nice if Visual Effects included a fourth choice, Custom, next to which there would a button to Open Compiz Settings Manager.
When CCSM is not installed, the Custom button and compiz link would be ghosted (unclickable), with a little line reading "You must instal CompizConfig Settings Manager to customize visual effects."
Custom could be designed to always remember the most recent Compiz configuration. That way, if you want to temporarily disable visual effects, you could just click on None, and then later click back on Custom, without having to go back into CCSM and re-specify your favorite settings. (Currently, when the user disables visual effects, his most recent Compiz configuration is forgotten, which is unfortunate.)