Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#1

Post by danh » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 8:35 PM UTC

Single menu bar for Ubuntu
markshuttleworth.com

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#2

Post by cgranade » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 8:56 PM UTC

While I don't like global menus in general, it makes a lot of sense for netbooks, I think. I look forward to seeing this one come to fruition. That said, I agree with one of the commenters on the OP that pointed out the difficulties posed by toolbars. Hopefully, Ubuntu can come up with some good solutions to the toolbar problem, too.

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#3

Post by netghost » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:25 PM UTC

Personally I'd like it for the desktop too. I've grown quite accustomed to MacOSX's menubar.

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#4

Post by pkulak » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:29 PM UTC

Are there any renderings of what he's describing here?

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#5

Post by Zak » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:32 PM UTC

Ubuntu has been making a lot of UI changes lately. I can't figure out if they're really being innovative or if they're trying to copy Apple.

KDE had something like this as an option in 2.x and 3.x, though it appears to be gone from 4. It only supported KDE apps and therefore didn't provide a very good overall user experience. I always liked the Mac's global menu bar, so I kind of hope they can pull it off.

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#6

Post by crux_ » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:40 PM UTC

Getting this working would be great -- not because I want one menu to rule them all; but because I like the flexibility.

For example, it would be possible to hijack some of the logic and have the current app menu (better: palettes too!) show up as an android app, turning a bt-tethered phone into an input/hotkey device...

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#7

Post by nailer » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:44 PM UTC

crux_ wrote: post #6

Getting this working would be great -- not because I want one menu to rule them all; but because I like the flexibility. For example, it would be possible to hijack some of the logic and have the current app menu (better: palettes too!) show up as an android app, turning a bt-tethered phone into an input/hotkey device...

Pretty sure it was working about two or three years ago. Someone made patched for GNOME that were rejected by mainline.

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#8

Post by wmf » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:51 PM UTC

pkulak wrote: post #4

Are there any renderings of what he's describing here?

(I'm barely resisting the urge to post an OS X screen shot.)

It's like http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/ but modified to normally display the window title and only display menus on mouseover (hello discoverability).

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#9

Post by jsz0 » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:58 PM UTC

Between this and the system tray changes it seems Ubuntu is moving further away from the stock GNOME desktop environment. They're both good changes in theory but I'm not sure it's a good thing to add more fragmentation.

Re: Single menu bar for Ubuntu

#10

Post by lincolnq » Tue, Apr 27, 2010, 9:58 PM UTC

I really admire Shuttleworth and the rest of the Ubuntu design team for being courageous about making basic changes to the desktop UI. Open source tends to produce a lot of design-by-committee or completely undesigned software, so having somebody making big decisions and experimenting is really valuable. Nobody else big is really doing this.

There are plenty of alternative window managers for Linux or whatever, but few organizations besides Ubuntu have the inclination and resources to actually make the required changes to the relevant applications such that the desktop feels in some way consistent. And I know ubuntu isn't quite there yet, but it feels like it's making really rapid progress, and it's very encouraging.