Lock/logout interactions

[Michael Rudolph]

On Monday 10 March 2008 15:19:28 Will Stephenson wrote:
> On Monday 10 March 2008, Celeste Lyn Paul said:
> > This is just a crazy thought, but why are the Logout/Quit options
> > in Kickoff anyway?  Could we put the options somewhere else (such
> > as integrated in to the Desktop or taskbar by default)?
> >
> > It would require some learning on the user's part, but I think it
> > is worth discussing for a moment or two on why we would or wouldnt
> > want to do this.
>
> I bet this is a trick question.  Anyway I'm bouncing off of
> Solid::Control again so I'll indulge in a little UI pseuding:
>
> * They are neither multiple-use-per-session actions (like Konsole,
> Dolphin or Konqueror app launchers or the taskbar) nor status
> elements like the clock or system tray - this makes them second level
> actions.
>
> * second level actions should be discoverable though, so they are
> accessible via a first level thingy (the kickoff launcher) - this
> excludes to me just having them on the desktop menu, but could
> include having them on the dashboard (if that becomes as accessible
> as the launcher as it matures).
>
> * Precedent - it's where the user expects to find Leave options
>
> Will

Hello everyone,

how many of these options would be needed anyway?

It might be hard for software engineers to see, but the absolutely best 
solution to place these features is outside the "software" and on the 
hardware.

Why don't we just use the system's power button? When the user presses 
the power button, he's presented with one button: "Click here to log on 
as another user" and a countdown, telling him that the system will shut 
down in 10 seconds. This would be on a fullscreen, dimmed version of 
his current desktop, close to how it is handled now.

This is of course an unsatisfactory solution for old (actually: very 
old) systems, that don't support acpi and the power button just cuts 
off the system's power supply. But I would very much hope, that we see 
these as special cases and offer a fall-back solution for such old 
systems.

michael