Contributor mprince

While requesting features to the open source community which consist mainly of free workers, we may often forget to say how much we like Ubuntu and look like costumers requesting.

So you can say thank you to the thousands of developers and users who gave their time by voting for this article :)

Alright, so half the people say "MOAR NOTIFICATIONZ YA", the other half say "ongz no u stoopid ther annoying".

I propose we do use notifications, but do it tastefully.
Below the Notification area maybe, have a place where a box fades in with a semi-transparent background, states it's message shortly and to the point, and then fades out. If you need more info, a lightbulb will have appeared in the Notification area, where you could click to see the message again, with more info and a "do not show notifications" checkbox (which could be undone in preferences somewhere).

Non-intrusive, but informative. Not huge yellow popups that annoy you and show up in the wrong place half the time.

Possibly, they could be white or another color depending on whether it's a notification or a choice (e.g. Use restricted drivers?).

I think this would solve a lot of issues, and if we could make all our apps use it, it would be very useful.

Personal configuration in the first session.

Example 1:
Do you have Wi-Fi or Blutooth?
If don't use it, the system or script will be remove configuration to Grub or in the session initial make boot more fast.

Example 2:
Do you have HP printing?

Others configuration:
Install programs non free like Skype, GoogleEarth Nvidia-drivers, Splash Screen; PC or Lap Top?; Questions about boot; initial programs that will be running in start; update System, configure ubuntu drivers and codecs restrict, and many other configuration to make Ubuntu more Easy for initial Users.

It could be access in the Sistem/Administration when is will be necessary.

One of the more beautiful programs available for the PS3 is Folding@Home. Its main screen has the Earth with a light on each community where there is at least one online user using Folding@Home. The brighter the light the more users in that community. The overall effect is you get an approximation of the number of people around the world that are using Folding@Home.

It would be cool if Ubuntu had a similar app (maybe part of of the new Clock app) that indicated all the communities around the world where people are currently running K/X/Ubuntu. Now the points of light would just be that and you couldn't get any info about any user with Ubuntu or see computers that are currently off line but you could get a sense of how wide spread Ubuntu is and what are the main centres with Ubuntu users. This would also be a cool idea for a screen saver (you could even have a Folding@Home style display (minus the Folding stats of the app).

From a technical point of view all that would be needed is a central server (most likely one of the Ubuntu servers) that would get pings from active online Ubuntu computers that would say their timezone location (example America/New York). It would then send the stats for each community to any online computer which would display to the user. The service would be totally option and probably not turned on by default.

The emblems on icons give hints to the user about files and folders, however these mainly have to be added manually. Examples of more dynamic emblems are the read-only and symbolic link emblems.

I propose that more icon emblems be made which are dynamically allocated. These could even be animated and programmatically updated. Emblems could indicate things like:

* this file is being downloaded (with progress bar)
* this file has an unsaved version open
* this file is being accessed by another user
* this device is unsafe to remove
* this device is safe to remove
* a device's free space (as a progress bar)
* this version controlled folder can be updated
and so on

Applications could even add and update emblems on their own icons. For example:

* email programs could show an unread message count
* news programs could show an unread story count
* messaging programs could show a status icon
* messaging programs could show an unread message counter
* networked applications could show when they're disconnected
* editing programs could show if there are documents to be recovered
* downloading/transferring programs (like BitTorrent) could show a progress bar (or bars)

I would not go as far as allowing interactive elements (like play/next/etc. buttons on a music player) since these would interfere with the icon's main function, plus such things are more like full-blown applets/widgets/screenlets.

A nice benefit of this approach would be the ability to display a large amount of information completely in context (ie. only the information relevant to the displayed icons will be shown)

[....]

Currently, if an app can use gnome-keyring to store a password, there is no way the app can ask gnome-keyring if the key is currently on the keyring, without unlocking it (and exposing all the passwords).

The upshot of this is: Any app which can use gnome-keyring is constantly pestering the user to unlock the keyring, even if the key isn't stored there. If the user gives in to this badgering and unlocks his or her keyring ("See, stupid app, there's no password for you in my keyring!!"), then all the passwords that ARE in the keyring become insecure. And the app still needs to prompt for the password anyway!

It would be much nicer (both user-friendly and secure) if an app could query the keyring to find out if it has any passwords stored, rather than demanding that the user unlock the keyring. This way, the only time the keyring would need to be unlocked is *when it was actually going to be used*, thus keeping both users' passwords and sanity safer. Users wouldn't have keep track in their heads of which passwords are stored in the keyring to decide whether to unlock the ring or not, because the only time they'd get a prompt is when the key is there!

I know someone will say "but it's so insecure to have a list of what passwords are stored in the keyring!". But it's just as insecure (or more so) to have the system harangue the user into opening the keyring by default (see libpam-keyring) or unlocking the keyring "just in case" some random app happens to have stored something there (networkmanager is a particularly good one for this) and thereby exposing not just the list of available passwords, but the passwords themselves!

I think it is very confusing that during installation, the screen suddenly becomes black. It would be much better if there would be at least a simple image, so that the screen does not look like the computer just crashed.

Right now there's lack of leadership in the art section of Ubuntu. Ideas just fly around the mailing list without a real focus. There doesn't seem to be any planning at all, and decisions seem random.

I propose Andrea Cimitan to take the lead of Ubuntu Art (if he wants). He's the maker of clearlooks and murrine engines.

References:
http://www.cimitan.com/blog/
http://www.cimitan.com/pages/home.php

Edit:
Mail list post:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-art/2008-March/005475.html

Canonical should consider making an official Ubuntu magazine. You can get news online, but lots of people like it in a magazine - there's PCWorld, MacWorld, and even Nintendo Power.

You could offer people the ability to ask experts about common questions and provide tips, as well as the latest news and cool hardware. Even better, you could allow people to submit content online and then have them looked over and choose some for the magazine. This lets you use the "open for everyone" possibilty.

I don't know what you would do about pricing. You could offer a free online magazine updated every day/week that has a little of the content. You could also offer a cheap (Maybe $10-$20 USD or 6 - 12 Euro for 12 months) subscription that comes in the mail.

You could also send the latest Ubuntu CD every 6 months with the magazine, along with some stickers!

EDIT: I know FullCircleMagazine has an online one, but I mean official and more professional and one that comes in the mail

I've been playing around with Apple Mac OS X Leopard and, although the system didn't impress me that much, I loved one feature that I'd really like to see in Ubuntu.
It´s call Quick Look, and allows you to view the contents of a file without open its default application.
This is great when you have a folder with different types of files (JPG, MPG, DOC) and you want see the content of the files quickly without open many applications (Eog, Totem, OpenOffice Writer in this case)
You can look how this work in Mac OS X on here, here and here.

why mouse wheel don't do anything on workspace switcher applet? It's good to switch to right/left workspaces (like what happens when you scroll the wheel on desktop background )

In icon view, things sometimes get a little bit cluttered and confusing in nautilus. I thought it would be helpful to (optionally) visually separate files and folders to make navigation easier.

Example image: http://www.gnome-look.org/CONTENT/content-pre1/62271-1.png

Source: Gnome-look.org
Author: mockup

Link: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=62271&forumpage=0

This is not my idea, is from willwill100 on DevianArt:

He/she make this mockup for Ubuntu and I think is one of the best ever created (my opinion).

He/she doesn't know that I publish his/her ideas here... But I think that if Ubuntu has this Look and Feel, Ubuntu will be better (or best :P)

http://willwill100.deviantart.com/art/Interpid-Ibex-Mockup-Part-1-93584571

As always, excuse my poor english.

Clean up brainstorm by doing the following:

1. Remove ideas that is marked "Not an idea" or alternatively create a certain category where they could be moved

2. "Hide" ideas that carries a vote count under a certain limit, for example -10 and let the user decide whether to show these ideas

3. Automatically merge all duplicates (not only the votes but the idea itself as well). This could be done by providing both descriptions under the same title.

4. Move inapplicable ideas to a certain category or alternatively remove them

You know how games like the sims 2 have pie menus? If you don't, here's some pictures:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c237/syberspunk/TS2%20mods/vamprocillindpieme nufix/vamprocillindpiemenufix5edit.jpg

http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/images11/MTS2_506375_mike_1102_PieMenu1.jpg

Now, the subtle (yet vital) difference between ubuntu and the sims 2 is that the sims 2 is a game and ubuntu isn't. Pie menus do appear in other games but i've never seen it outside a game and i think this would work very well in an operating system like ubuntu, especially if they're trying to improve the GUI and make themselves different from windows and mac.

On those pictures, you will see options which have "..." at the end. Thats for those options which, had you been using a dropdown menu, would have an arrow on the end to signify that the option leads to another menu. In the sims 2, it leads to another pie menu. In ubuntu, it leads to another dropdown menu.

So, this idea is a bit different but i think that this could work. Obviously it would have to have a different design to the sims 2 one, possibly having cut, copy and paste icons (amongst others) to help users find the one they want fast.

I would like to see a version of ubuntu that can be installed on a portable computer like an iPAQ that can connect to your car and give you updates on what going on in your car and reminders for keeping your car in check. Also this would allow you to diagnose problems with your car (i am tired of seeing mechanics have to pay outrageous prices for the software and equipment). This should also come with the same features the come with your desktop (music, video, etc). However keep it minimalistic so that the footprint is small. Maybe even allow for a remote desktop feature for when connecting to your computer for updates so that you can drag and drop documents and music into the directories. So that you can also use in the business/college world. Possibly merge this idea with the MID project as a branch off.
I have a hp iPAQ 1700 and am willing to give any working rc a test run.

Brasero is nice and getting better, but I have few improvements to suggest:
- Video DVD, there is no option for it and would be nice if it was implemented
- Integrity check. When you select this option, Brasero will include a checksum file in the media burnt. Perhaps the file should be stored in a .brasero folder in the home directory?
- There is no integrity check for burnt image files
- When burning an audio cd from mp3s the process takes forever, anything that can be done there?

My idea for the Magic Folder is based on a widget for the Windows sidebar: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=0ed6a06a-6782-41a7-b68c-2753fad4 12a5&pl=1&bt=1

Most users like to keep their desktops as clean as possible. After a while, though, it gets all cluttered up with things that go into different places. Rather than take the time to figure it all out, this little folder saves a lot of time by acting as a virtual dustpan for your desktop and distributing everything wherever you want it to go.

This should be made for Linux. it could sit in a panel just like the Recycle Bin does. The idea has already been discussed here:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=508955

Simply Beautiful. It should fully replace old logo from Wubi to Website.

http://draxus.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/ubuntu-logo.jpg

New Link:

http://img.xatakafoto.com/2008/01/ubuntu-logo.jpg

I think that hiding files in ubuntu should be easiler and better. I'm suggesting a default folder in a users directory and places called 'Vault'.

The 'Vault' folder will be encryted, and the contents hidden and non-indexable by trackers.

For a user to add a file or folder to the 'Vault they simply right click the file or folder and select send to Vault or drag to Vault in their places menu. To retrieve a file the user would click on the place name and input their password.

The user should be stopped from using their login password as their Vault password.

From a coding / devoplement point of view and sure that the source code of true crypt could be useful for getting this feature into ubuntu.

EDIT: My idea isn't to use this instead of full drive encryption. Instead it's to make a great hidden files area that happends to offer a some encryption options. Somewhere to put the pictures from your stag do, or your home movie collection without installing a state of the art crypto program and learning how to use it.

EDIT EDIT: I've noticed a similar idea posted on Brainstorm which is implemented a lot better. Please vote for that one instead.

idea #5706: Integrated Folder/File Password Protection