[Panel-devel] Tasks applet and the panel

[Robert Knight]

>  my expectation with the taskbar is
> - *There has to be a miracle* :P

I would like to lower your expectations then, for the first release at
least, to something along the lines of:  A useful improvement, usable,
and more attractive than 3.5.  This is what I feel is achievable in
the time available.

The rest of your email is a jumble of thoughts about various UI
aspects of the panel, window management etc.  This thread is really
about discussing the technical aspects of implementing the panel.  If
you have user interface suggestions, I think it would be better to
create a structured page on the KDE wiki and let other people
(including the developers) know so that they can add their own
thoughts.

The kde usability mailing list is also an appropriate place for discussions.

> About the *grouping* - I have found that except of browser i
> generally found that grouping to be annoying

I believe you mean the automated application-name based grouping as
found in KDE 3.x, Windows and Gnome, this is different to "grouping"
in general.  I am aware of the problems of the existing
application-name based strategy.

Regards,
Robert.




On 15/08/07, Mohammad Bhuyan <nuxser at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/6/07, Robert Knight <robertknight at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I have been doing some UI research on the task bar and started
> > prototyping.
>
> Hi,
>
> As a KDE fan, thought I will drop in some of my comments on the
> taskbar user experience direct to the developer. As I am following the
> progress of KDE4 and being amazed, my expectation with the taskbar is
> - *There has to be a miracle* :P
>
> User experiecnce varies with user so if there is any usability
> experiment on this please disregard. This is only what I though could
> be a great taskbar for everybody. Here it goes ...
>
> A portion of my desktop real state goes to Kicker (considering its
> scope to include the following
>
> -- KMenu Icon
> -- Desktop Access Buttons
> -- Desktop Preview & Pager
> -- The Taskbar
> -- System Tray
> -- More Panel (if added)
>
> I guess KMenu is there with an accepted "standard practice" of being
> there. People expects it to be there (specially with the ubiquitio
> knowledge of Windows). So I would see it to be a funny move to move it
> to somewhere else.
>
> Desktop access icon is really handy. I love it to put my frequent
> applications 1 click away. but its only use full when i want to click
> something on it. Its not like taskbar where visual inspection serves
> any purpose. So until my mouse reaches there, its just wasting my real
> state. So I would think that dynamically expanding/reducing the
> Desktop Access panel on mouse hover can be great. So when its not in
> use, it is being minimal to save real state.
>
> Desktop Preview & Pager: One good One bad. Good to let me click and
> switch my desktop. But I have no idea how that *small* *not at all
> clear* *icon cluttering* *over lapped rectangles* preview is useful.
> Also with the incorporation of compix/beryl effects in window manager,
> desktop switching/preview/inspection is moving to a different
> dimension. So as long as something is there which uses minimal real
> state and let me clickNjump to my desktop should be good.
>
> The Taskbar -
>
> >    -  Re-arrange task representations using drag and drop*
> >    -  Group tasks using drag and drop*
>
> Sounds great. Will love to arrange my task when in very long session
> for easy access and then rearrange when the nature of the work pattern
> changes.
>
> About the *grouping* - I have found that except of browser i generally
> found that grouping to be annoying. Also again sometimes grouping
> helps and sometimes for the same app I don't want grouping. while
> keeping the option to make the the taskbar group items, if there is
> feature of group taskbar items per application individually (say i
> want the firefox tasks to group, but not my Kword tasks) during the
> session by drag dro will be great.
>
> System Tray - Same as desktop access icons with the option of icons to
> force itself displayed as it could be providing visual indication of
> something (network status?)
>
> Regards,
>
> Soyuz
> _______________________________________________
> Panel-devel mailing list
> Panel-devel at kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/panel-devel
>