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Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

arstechnica.com

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Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#11

Post by batista »

divtxt wrote: post #3

> Having the application's functionality split across two completely separate menus does not constitute a usability improvement. That's putting it mildly. A split menu may be correct from some design point of view (e.g DRY principle) but from a usability point of view, it's recipe for frustration. On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes?…

On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes? (on grounds of being modal)

No, modal can be good.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#12

Post by kijin »

No title bars when maximized, and menus in the top panel? They should seriously consider merging back with Unity.

> Windows are maximized by default

Thanks again for catering to tablet users at the cost of the rest of us! How many times do we need to remind these people that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all user interface?

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#13

Post by unicornporn »

I really hate nit picking on open-source software, but... Gnome 3.X is without a doubt one of the worst pieces of UI design I have ever spotted (KDE 4 included). Almost everything looks like it was done by someone that does not have the slightest clue. It's sad, Clearlooks on Gnome 2 was quite good.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#14

Post by divtxt »

duaneb wrote: post #10
divtxt wrote: post #3

> Having the application's functionality split across two completely separate menus does not constitute a usability improvement. That's putting it mildly. A split menu may be correct from some design point of view (e.g DRY principle) but from a usability point of view, it's recipe for frustration. On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes?…

> On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes? (on grounds of being modal) Au contraire, I now consider gnome usable for the first time. The fact that apps didn't really exist but as a collection of individual windows drove me crazy .

The window is the unit of focus (not apps), so I can rightly argue that switching focus should work on the unit of focus i.e. windows.

Note that I'm not arguing against having an app concept or a "switch app" action. The problem is killing the "switch window" action.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#15

Post by natesm »

divtxt wrote: post #14
duaneb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes? (on grounds of being modal) Au contraire, I now consider gnome usable for the first time. The fact that apps didn't really exist but as a collection of individual windows drove me crazy .

The window is the unit of focus (not apps), so I can rightly argue that switching focus should work on the unit of focus i.e. windows. Note that I'm not arguing against having an app concept or a "switch app" action. The problem is killing the "switch window" action.

Mac OS X is Cmd+Tab to switch apps and Cmd+` to switch windows.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#16

Post by divtxt »

natesm wrote: post #15
divtxt wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The window is the unit of focus (not apps), so I can rightly argue that switching focus should work on the unit of focus i.e. windows. Note that I'm not arguing against having an app concept or a "switch app" action. The problem is killing the "switch window" action.

Mac OS X is Cmd+Tab to switch apps and Cmd+` to switch windows.

Cmd-` only switches windows of the current app. So, even if you see your window, you can't switch to it with Cmd-`.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#17

Post by whateverer »

divtxt wrote: post #3

> Having the application's functionality split across two completely separate menus does not constitute a usability improvement. That's putting it mildly. A split menu may be correct from some design point of view (e.g DRY principle) but from a usability point of view, it's recipe for frustration. On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes?…

I know that the grievance is on the design decision, which is a point of a trend which the dev team will follow, but as for the window switching, there are several extensions you can install for that; just flip the switch on the webpage and it'll get installed and activated immediately:

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/38/windows-alt-tab/

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/97/coverflow-alt-tab/

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#18

Post by dchest »

whateverer wrote: post #17
divtxt wrote: post #3

> Having the application's functionality split across two completely separate menus does not constitute a usability improvement. That's putting it mildly. A split menu may be correct from some design point of view (e.g DRY principle) but from a usability point of view, it's recipe for frustration. On a more general note, does no one else consider Mac-style "alt-tab switches apps" and "global menu" usability mistakes?…

I know that the grievance is on the design decision, which is a point of a trend which the dev team will follow, but as for the window switching, there are several extensions you can install for that; just flip the switch on the webpage and it'll get installed and activated immediately: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/38/windows-alt-tab/ https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/97/coverflow-alt-tab/

Or use Alt-Escape.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#19

Post by avar »

onosendai wrote: post #7

I've been forcing myself to use GNOME-shell for the past few months, just to see if it was as bad as most people make it out to be, and I have to grudgingly admit that some of the design choices are elegant. For example, I find myself liking the activities overview more and more since it combines together functionalities that you'd have to access separately on other desktop environments, namely a keyboard based appli…

I completely agree, it's much better than GNOME 2.x. Another major thing that's changed in my workflow is that I never use the menus to find programs anymore, it's now much faster to use the built-in search engine to launch applications. E.g. launching a terminal is Windows key + typing "Ter" + pressing Enter.

Re: Hands-on: GNOME 3.4 arrives, introducing significant design changes

#20

Post by virtualeyes »

At some point I'm going to have to get off of Gnome 2, not looking forward to it.

Gnome 2 + Compiz + Gnome-Do completely and utterly rocks, particularly with a dual monitor setup.

KDE was a bit of a mess last I checked. Some people are saying XFCE is maybe somewhat Gnome-2-ish?

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