Contributor Klau3 - Ubuntu brainstorm

Ubuntu QA:

Blog

Brainstorm

Package status

Gnome

Idea sandbox

Popular ideas

Ideas in development

Implemented ideas

Contributor Klau3 on Gnome

Resizing of two connecting windows should be easier

Written by Klau3 the 17 Oct 10 at 13:56. New

Fullscreen

Nowadays screens become bigger and it is often better to run a program not full screen e.g. Web browser → some sites will be left bounden other centralized...
Having multiple windows side by side becomes normal so we need a good way to manage them.

One of the most common actions is to resize windows to fit personal working habits (often one program window is bigger → the main working window).

352
votes

-61
votes

-43
votes

Solution #3: No floating based window manager.

Written by Lachu the 18 Oct 10 at 13:55.

Allow to use now floating mode in Metacity, but restrict settings to certain window. Each window will remember positioning type. By switching window, we switching also positioning mode.

You can imagine that like using fullscreen app. By switching to this window, it takes whole screen. When switching it off, it are minimized. We can extend this to remember different settings of sets of window, but each will be related to one main window. Now, by select another main window fullscreen application will be showed as normal window in ex. right-bottom edge.

88
votes

Solution #4: An "attach window" option

Written by Aielyn the 19 Oct 10 at 07:04.

Give the system the ability to attach windows to each other as far as layout issues are concerned - basically, you could anchor one window to another one, with various settings to allow you to anchor them in the way that suits you.

This would not only enable the functionality desired by this idea (moving two, or more than two, connected window boundaries simultaneously), but would also grant a few other features, including the ability to always keep the windows together in the display stack (so, in the image above, if you minimise the writer, it minimises firefox, and vice versa, and if you give one focus, the other is displayed directly "beneath" it in terms of display depth, above all other windows).

Options for the anchoring process would include:

- "Common Frame", which would make the windows operate as though they were a single window for the purposes of resizing, etc (drag Writer's right border to the left, and Firefox shrinks in proportion, while keeping the borders aligned - halve Writer's width, and Firefox's width is also halved).
- "Common Border", which would do as suggested in the idea, and move both borders without moving any other borders.
- "Glued Border", which would cause the borders to be held together, but otherwise leave all details of the windows separate; move the Writer right border to the left, and the Firefox window moves to the left so the borders still remain aligned, but the Firefox window keeps its size and shape.
- "Free Borders", which would decouple the window borders, but still attach the windows to each other.

[...]

In all cases above, moving one window would also move the other window. Further gluing would be possible in order to attach more windows to each other, even sharing a single border. In the "Free Borders" option, only movement of windows would make a difference, resizing of windows would not matter.

-64
votes

-16
votes

Solution #6: Move to screen sides and be able to drag center once

Written by dsterry the 20 Oct 10 at 22:08.

If you want two windows to split the screen, you should be able to grab each one and move them toward their respective sides of the screen to put them in this auto-resized mode. Then if you want to move the boundary between them, you should be able to grab the boundary on either side of that split and move it back and forth horizontally.

This is similar to what another OS does but the addition of being able to drag the adjoining barrier can make this more useful for me. For example, I may want my web browser to be bigger than my gedit with as few clicks and drags as possible.

This may collide with compiz's ability to drag windows between desktops but it's a valid tradeoff.

Furthermore, this should be default behavior for Ubuntu.

44
votes

-14
votes

Solution #8: Introduce a split screen viewing mode.

Written by david4dev the 24 Oct 10 at 23:19.

Introduce a window manager mode where windows do not overlap and act more like frames. By default the screen space should be shared equally but the borders between frames should be adjustable (a bit like terminator). Opening a new application window or selecting a frame from the window list (or alternatives) should add this window to the list of frames on the screen. The existing frames should automatically resize to accommodate the new frame. Clicking on the window list button for a particular frame that is showing (so the minimise action) should remove it from the screen and the existing windows should automatically resize to fill the space. This should not be a default but should be easy to enable or disable.

-3
votes

-6
votes

-2
votes

Solution #11: Pressing the maximize button to fill up only half or a third of the screen

Written by lemuelinchrist the 3 Nov 10 at 03:09.

Most users, when using a big screen (say 22'') almost never use the maximize button anymore. So why not give the user freedom to customize the maximize button such that it would only fill half or maybe 2/3 or 1/3 of the screen depending on his choice?

Or if we want to preserve the function of the maximize button, why not add a fourth button for this in addition to the min, max, and close button.

Sometimes manually resizing windows can be burdensome. pressing the maximize window is a lot quicker to fill up screens

38
votes

Solution #12: Windows 7 Style Window Relocator

Written by ejh the 4 Nov 10 at 17:32.

This is one area that I think windows 7 beats ubuntu. Windows 7's "aerosnap" function works as shown in this video: youtu.be/bopeB6QbOjI.

Ubuntu could implement the windows 7 functionality, then make it better by allowing you to move the vertical boundary between two programs which are sharing your screen left and right, by holding ctrl or shift or using a different mouse button.

2
votes

Solution #13: Windows dropped on each other with "Super" pressed should behave differently.

Written by cyprys the 10 Nov 10 at 01:15.

Windows attached in the following manner should maximise and share one virtual space: there's a windows list on the bottom gnome-panel in Ubuntu - drag one window from this list and drop it on another window while holding "Super" key, repeat as needed.

When manually changing the width of one window neighbouring window should auto-resize (shrink or grow).

When certain width of the neighbouring window is approached during shrinking auto-resize of the next neighbouring window should start or the process should stop (when there are no more neighbouring windows).

Minimizing one of the attached windows should hide whole virtual space and all windows sharing it.

Unmaximising one of the attached windows should unattach only this one window and release previously occupied space so it could be redistributed between other attached windows.

Multiple virtual spaces on one workspace should be created by attaching two windows to each other (one virtual space) and then attaching two different windows to each other (second virtual space), etc.

When switching between windows (e.g. alt+tab), virtual space should be treated as one window regardless of number of actual windows sharing it.

-4
votes

3
votes

-2
votes

Solution #16: Imitate Windows 7 (Super or Windows Key + Left/Right Arrow)

Written by Gonz-IT the 11 Nov 10 at 12:16.

Windows 7 implements a very neat way for window resizing and positioning. If you select a window and type WindowsKey (Super) + Right Arrow, the window will take exactly half of the space available in the right side of the screen, and so on with the WindowsKey + Left combo.

I think this is a very nice usability feature that should be implemented with Ubuntu.

2
votes

-5
votes

Solution #18: Treat each workspace as a virtual monitor that may view multiple at a time

Written by thamawij pirajnaraporn the 28 Dec 10 at 09:11.

It would be nice if we can make one of our workspace split; for example, a 1280x960 may split into 4, 640x480, screens or 2, 640x960, screens as virtual attached monitors. Maximize make a window fit a monitor.

(In my head, it looks like compiz's Expo view with adjustable numbers of adjacent workspaces to show at the time)

I'm not so sure if this idea is implementable. Just share the idea so the superior in system and programming may see the way to go.

See the 23 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 12 May 12 at 08:24) >>

Use the new Ubuntu notifications to alert when hardware is detected

Written by christophski the 3 Jun 09 at 10:51. Won't implement

At the moment, if I plug in a webcam or a USB mouse, there is nothing visual to say that Ubuntu has correctly detected the new hardware, to see if it's been properly detected, I have to actually start using it.

(wasn't sure what related project to put)

1138
votes

-121
votes

103
votes

-261
votes

432
votes

Solution #5: Green popup=working hardware / Red popup=not supported, extra attention...

Written by walterav the 7 Jun 09 at 22:37.

It might give a "false assumption" that the hardware is also supported and directly working with ubuntu.

My suggestion would be that it gives a notification that is green/if the hardware directly works, it might fade away!

Other wise make the notification "red" with a extra dialog box that say's this hardware is not supported, or needs the following procedure, or something with cancel.

This idea can be combined with solution 1 / 3

-93
votes

Solution #6: Menu

Written by Mentalikryst the 14 Jun 09 at 22:05.

Give a menu that gives some information such as:

*Status
*Compatibility
*Type of Device
*Programs which use the device (So give Nautilus/Dolphin for a USB Flash Drive, Network Manager for a WiFi adapter, etc.)

The menu would fade away and would not be obtrusive, but would give the user information about the device and give options on what to do.

78
votes

Solution #7: Solution 1 + icon that provides configuration

Written by DaVince the 15 Jun 09 at 22:25.

It would probably be a good idea to have an icon pop up while a notification is shown, so that accessibility to configuration of this little tool is available. Anyone who doesn't like the notifications or wants to disable them for certain hardware will be able to do so by clicking this icon (a special configuration window will pop up).

The icon will automatically disappear shortly after the notification was shown.

3
votes

See the 28 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 19 Feb 12 at 03:19) >>

Focus an attention of user on shutdown confirmation dialog

Written by Haku the 1 Apr 09 at 12:08. Implemented

In Jaunty Jackalope 9.04 beta is added shutdown/restart/logout confirmation dialog. This dialog is important at the moment. Focus an attention of user on it.

773
votes

260
votes

-65
votes

-13
votes

See the 19 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 21 Oct 11 at 09:53) >>

Keep current GNOME interface, instead of using GNOME Shell

Written by Linux-user the 7 Jun 09 at 16:39. Not an idea

The developers of GNOME are thinking about changing their interface. They want to replace the current interface (top panel and bottom panel) with something they call GNOME Shell. This new interface will have a bar on the top called "Activities". The old menu called "Applications" will be gone and you'll have to type the name of the application to start this application.

Screenshots:
http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Screenshots

I really don't like this new interface and I've seen many other people complaining about this new interface.

-139
votes

Solution #1: Keep the current panels

Written by Linux-user the 7 Jun 09 at 16:39.

Why does GNOME has to start developing a completely new interface? Let them first finish the current one. Let them first solve those thousands of bugs which are in GNOME for more than several years (to give some examples: icons on the desktop are still overlapping each other, in Nautilus it's still impossible to lasso files in List View, in Nautilus it's still impossible to create a new directory from the right mouse button in List View if there are more items in the directory than fit on the screen).

Those guys keep on adding new features and now they want to introduce a completely new interface. Finish the something before starting something new. Fix bugs before adding new features.

548
votes

Solution #2: Allow the user to decide - add as menu/appearance option

Written by tuxxy the 7 Jun 09 at 22:10.

In future GNOME releases users should be able to choose either the GNOME shell design or be able to revert back to the standard panel GNOME layout. This new design feature could be added as a menu or appearance option to accommodate the users who prefer the old standard GNOME layout.

Not providing this option could alienate some users and force them to adopt a new desktop environment.

286
votes

Solution #3: gnome shell should take profit from wide-screen displays

Written by yzarc the 8 Jun 09 at 00:12.

the screens is getting wider and wider but gnome seems to don't care about it and gnome shell looks like is in the same way. two horizontal bars also in the gnome shell and even harder to customize.

gnome should profit the opportunity of a brand new interface concept to improve the use of wide-screen. Let the top and button area free and use the side parts (optionally), it is impossible with the current gnome interface, nothing work properly.

160
votes

Solution #4: Use Gnome Shell, but make things more discoverable

Written by Endolith the 11 Jun 09 at 16:26.

Gnome Shell looks like an improvement. Searching for activities or documents is better and faster than menus if you know what you're looking for. But searching only works if you know the name of the thing you're searching for. The traditional hierarchical navigation is better suited for when you know what you want to do, but don't know what program does it.

There should still be categories, and you should be able to see them in the search results and navigate through them if you type their names. Applications should be assigned to multiple categories as appropriate, like Totem could be in both "Audio" and "Video".

Searching should work on both the application name and the program's description, as well as synonyms, so you can find Firefox by searching for "web browser", for instance.

With an empty search box, something needs to be shown to help the user get started searching for apps and realize what it's capable of.

67
votes

Solution #5: Make the transition smooth

Written by aadityabhatia the 18 Jun 09 at 21:46.

Lobby the folks at Gnome to make the transition as smooth as possible.

1. Take small steps towards the new UI rather than one big leap. Every step should involve a small change.
2. The UI must be intuitive at every step.
3. Do NOT force all the users to use the new UI. Instead, make every change OPTIONAL.

Bottom line is that those who wish to stick to the classic Gnome interface should be allowed to do so until they're ready to move on.

22
votes

Solution #6: Take more time for the transition

Written by xfuser4 the 2 Jul 09 at 09:22.

I don't think that its a bad idea to make a "hard" transition between Gnome 2 and Gnome 3.

But I think, that the Gnome people are hurrying too much. It would be better to take enough time to design Gnome 3.

- It would be important to use (paied?) user interface specialists to design Gnome Shell

- It would be important to make great API designs and provide great development tools for Gnome 3

11
votes

Solution #7: Talked to people at open-usability.org

Written by xfuser4 the 11 Jul 09 at 09:06.

I'm observing the development process of GNOME Shell. They really gathered lots of ideas on their website from many different people.

Somehow it looks to me, that everybody who has an idea about a new user interface is posting it there. Some of these ideas are perhaps good for the inventor of the idea - but the might be bad for the "ordinary user".

To prevent that GNOME Shell runs into a usability nightmare, it would be wise to bring usability experts to this project. I suggest, that making a link between usability experts (e.g. the guys from open-usability.org) and GNOME Shell would be wise. Even the sponsoring of good usability experts by Canonical would be a great help!

Please remember: whatever GNOME 3.0 will look like - we have to deal with it for the next five years!

7
votes

-1
votes

Solution #9: Keep the desktop panels but use Gnome Shell for UNR

Written by Scotchpie the 29 Jan 10 at 10:16.

Gnome shell is a good start at developing an interface for the next generation of computer devices. Those who love the current two panel desktop must consider how practical it is on touch screen and smaller screen devices.

With the launch of the iPad this week all PC manfacturers are going to be producing their own versions and you know that MicroSoft's solution will be to simply stick their existing desktop on them, like they did with netbooks and XP.

The current two panel gnome interface is fine for the dwindling home desktop user and laptop user and Gnome Shell adds no improvement (it may even be a hinderance) but for netbooks and the new breed of touch screen pads/tablets the shell is ideal.

Therefore on the standard Ubuntu distro keep the panels as originally suggested here, but on UNR move to Gnome Shell which is faster, and in my opinion an improvement over the existing UNR interface (I've tried them both and prefer Gnome Shell).

-2
votes

See the 27 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 21 Sep 11 at 16:32) >>

Ubuntu is too buggy / incomplete

Written by r0g the 7 Apr 10 at 22:44. Not an idea

We all know there are some corking great bugs in Ubuntu, some real honkers and it's quite galling to see release after release come out without addressing them. I won't go into specifics as that will get this post labeled as a bug report and directed to the bug tracker where it will promptly be ignored forever.

You see this site is quite symptomatic of the problem, bugs are swept under the carpet and the spectrum of allowable thought is limited entirely to new features. The sad fact is many existing features are incomplete or unreliable.

Personally I couldn't care one jot about the obligatory new theming every 6 months, I neither want nor need an "app store", "music store" or "cloud drive" and where the minimize and close buttons go is IMHO a triviality.

What I do care about is seeing massive bugs persist in core programs and components from release to release. Some of them are bad to the point of embarrassing and I would far rather have attention and resources directed at them than the latest shiny spinning gizmos that nobody asked for.

The biggest problem open source has is that developers seem to abandon products when they are 90% complete i.e. just good enough to get work done in. That last 10% may not look like much but it makes a world of difference so if Mr Shuttleworth et al really want to take a leaf out of Jobs' book this is where they should be concentrating.

79
votes

Solution #1: Make the next release about bugfixing, not gimicky new features.

Written by r0g the 7 Apr 10 at 22:44.

I crave stability and polish over features and think the next release (10.10) should forget about adding new functionality until it has fixed the most glaring bugs and omissions in core technologies like X-windows, Pulse audio, Search and Gnome/Nautilus.

As I say I'm not going to be specific about what's wrong with them, enough people know first hand! The fact is that effort spent on improving the quality and completeness of the above core technologies will go to benefit the whole Linux community and while I'm sure Ubuntu is no more a charity than it is a democracy there is still a case for quality.

Remember Linux trades on its reputation for stability and security, without that it has nothing.

106
votes

Solution #3: Focus some developer power on 10.04.X

Written by Otus the 8 Apr 10 at 10:54.

The non-LTS 10.10 should be about new features, but there should also be a concentrated effort to fix any bugs that may be left in 10.04 after release. Those can be released normally as 10.04.1 etc, but should also be publicized so those unhappy with initial 10.04 will find them.

Those who want stability foremost should be able to get their bugfixes with the LTS release. Those who also want features should have a way to get them in 10.10.

-36
votes

See the 6 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 31 Jul 11 at 01:56) >>

Too many steps to access information of interest

Written by Klau3 the 27 Mar 09 at 11:53. New

- Normal search is slow. It could bring better results by displaying only user focused hits.

- Normal search cannot integrate information from different sources (e.g. addressbook, received emails, browser bookmarks).

- Desktop has no possibility to start directly an Internet search.

- In normal computer architecture, data are scattered all over and it takes time to retrieve them.

- Normal search result displays lack visual "commpacity" (could be improved).

24
votes

Solution #1: Shorten access to data through fewer intuitive steps

Written by Klau3 the 27 Mar 09 at 11:53.

My idea is to improve the search and treatment of data by taking only a few, easy steps. It consists in connecting several archive files, different search functions and “open with”.

How would it work?

For quick display of the search results, it is necessary to index and order the data. A program runs all the time in the background carrying out this task, and resumes work when work load is low. It only checks certain folders and takes into account certain file endings (path, size, name and further information recorded e.g. ID3 tags, GPS information within picture) and creates mini-pictures. At the end of the search, data selection could look like this in the home directory:
odt, doc, pdf, mp3, ogg, jpg

The program shouldn't stop at that, but should also list the address book and the emails received if the user wishes to. It should also be possible to switch the search function from local to Internet, to have access to the browser bookmarks in the search window and to the various search engines.

The search window is there to give quick access to the data the user is looking for and to ignore the rest.

[...]

GUI

The search function can be implemented by mouse click or key combination. I suggest using Ctrl+Alt+F as a shortcut. It should be possible to drag and drop the search results (e.g. to copy them on a USB key).
The table below illustrates the search mode per key shortcut. It shows how easy it would be, and the resulting possibilities. I use the word Start to avoid writing Ctrl+Alt+F each time. The blue color is for the Internet mode.

The search window should “understand” the following:

- It puts the files last or often retrieved higher up in the list.

- If the user writes for instance “Musician’s name” and “Music” in the search window, the results should be mostly music files.

- If the user selects a music title and presses the Enter key, and a music program has already started, the new title should appear in the play list.

- The search engine should be able to carry out simple instructions, as long as there is no other file with the same name (“new mail”, “odt new”, “start gimp”, etc.)

- It should be possible to choose index terms for certain folders like “m” for Music....

- Depending on the data displayed, the search should deliver differing information (e.g. with a big difference between a picture file and an address entry).

- The search system should cope to a certain extent with spelling mistakes!

- If the user selects “Archive file” for the second time (when an archive file is already open), the program will ask him whether to put the file into the existing archive.

- When surfing the Internet, user should be able to drag & drop all possible Internet search engines into the Ubuntu search window to add them to the search engine list.

- If there is no entry in the search index, the program suggests a “complete standard search” for the term requested.

Possible search configurations

A right mouse click in the search bar gives access to the options. The user can then configure the folders/data and the order in which they appear (you could explicitly exclude folders/data – possibly directly through the “standard folder option” as well). Among other things, it should be possible to select whether to have “mini preview images” and whether the Internet search engine is allowed to submit suggestions for search.
It would be wise to encrypt files because the internal archiving and the structured treatment of personal data may disclose many details about the computer’s owner. Access to the encrypted search index should be possible only with root rights.

Conclusion

It is clear to me that it will probably be impossible to develop all the functionalities I am suggesting, yet I find it necessary to think about them and describe them as well. They may feed other people’s inventiveness and help us tread new paths together. The search method I have described would be a very powerful tool functioning on a rather intuitive basis. Computer use would become faster and more efficient. It could certainly be used in cell phones as well.

To make it short, I would be delighted to run my computer and other devices with the help of such a search window. I truly hope that some developer will be as enthusiastic about it as I am, and that he will turn this wonderful idea into reality.

Please visit my blog:

http://justoneidea.wordpress.com

My idea is to improve the search and treatment of data by taking only a few, easy steps. It consists in connecting several archive files, different search functions and “open with”.

How would it work?

For quick display of the search results, it is necessary to index and order the data. A program runs all the time in the background carrying out this task, and resumes work when work load is low. It only checks certain folders and takes into account certain file endings (path, size, name and further information recorded e.g. ID3 tags, GPS information within picture) and creates mini-pictures. At the end of the search, data selection could look like this in the home directory:
odt, doc, pdf, mp3, ogg, jpg

The program shouldn't stop at that, but should also list the address book and the emails received if the user wishes to. It should also be possible to switch the search function from local to Internet, to have access to the browser bookmarks in the search window and to the various search engines.

The search window is there to give quick access to the data the user is looking for and to ignore the rest.

GUI

The search window should “understand” the following:

- It puts the files last or often retrieved higher up in the list.

- If the user writes for instance “Musician’s name” and “Music” in the search window, the results should be mostly music files.

- If the user selects a music title and presses the Enter key, and a music program has already started,  the new title should appear in the play list.

- The search engine should be able to carry out simple instructions, as long as there is no other file with the same name (“new mail”, “odt new”, “start gimp”, etc.)

- It should be possible to choose index terms for certain folders like “m” for Music....

- Depending on the data displayed, the search should deliver differing information (e.g. with a big difference between a picture file and an address entry).

- The search system should cope to a certain extent with spelling mistakes!

- If the user selects “Archive file” for the second time (when an archive file is already open), the program will ask him whether to put the file into the existing archive.

- When surfing the Internet, user should be able to drag & drop all possible Internet search engines into the Ubuntu search window to add them to the search engine list.

- If there is no entry in the search index, the program suggests a “complete standard search” for the term requested.

Possible search configurations

A right mouse click in the search bar gives access to the options. The user can then configure the folders/data and the order in which they appear (you could explicitly exclude folders/data – possibly directly through the “standard folder option” as well). Among other things, it should be possible to select whether to have “mini preview images” and whether the Internet search engine is allowed to submit suggestions for search.
It would be wise to encrypt files because the internal archiving and the structured treatment of personal data may disclose many details about the computer’s owner. Access to the encrypted search index should be possible only with root rights.

Conclusion

It is clear to me that it will probably be impossible to develop all the functionalities I am suggesting, yet I find it necessary to think about them and describe them as well. They may feed other people’s inventiveness and help us tread new paths together. The search method I have described would be a very powerful tool functioning on a rather intuitive basis. Computer use would become faster and more efficient. It could certainly be used in cell phones as well.

To make it short, I would be delighted to run my computer and other devices with the help of such a search window. I truly hope that some developer will be as enthusiastic about it as I am, and that he will turn this wonderful idea into reality.

Please visit my blog:

http://justoneidea.wordpress.com

7
votes

Solution #2: Add Gnome Do (and related) as a Default package

Written by gleeb the 9 Apr 09 at 17:59.

Gnome Do is maturing rapidly and is probably ready for inclusion in a desktop distribution. Supporting Gnome Do and it's plugins, and adding them to the default set of packages, will enable users to do as you suggest. With a creative default configuration, gnome do will instantly be able to find the files, folders and other data of interest quickly and easily.

See the 5 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 1 May 09 at 19:39) >>

Submit your idea