Plasma-Netbook Mockups

[Marco Martin]

On Friday 09 April 2010, Markus wrote:
> Written by MoRpHeUz — April 9, 2010 @ 19:01:
> > Hi! Regarding some points:
> > 
> > – Exposè vs List of Windows
> > 
> > A) Most (if not all) netbooks today have a graphics card capable of doing
> > composite.
> 
> Graphic cards: Yes. Drivers: Not often.
> There were several announcements of ARM-based netbooks. Is any of the
> current drivers even compatible with GPUs that work in conjunction with
> ARM CPUs? Does Nouveau work with Tegra for example? I tried to look it up
> a while ago and found nothing.
> 
> > And if composite is not available, it fallbacks exactly to a
> > list of windows, so it seems that your idea is “quite already
> > implemented”.
> 
> I on purpose made "my" menu switch between apps and not individual windows.

well, it's not really easy to identify what windows belong to the same app, 
that's one of the reasons the taskbar in plasma-desktop right now lists 
windows, and they are grouped by name, that is an heuristic that may or may 
not be the correct

> > B) From our research with users, they usually do not open that many
> > applications on a netbook.
> 
> Certainly possible. Your research is likely better than my limited
> "research" using a handful of netbook owners and some market statistic
> about people who replace their PCs with netbooks.
> 
> One of the goals of my proposal was to enable easier switching between many
> apps without hurting the work flow for users who don't run many apps.
> 
> > However if this happens, then it would be a
> > good idea to think about a good solution for “too many windows” and
> > Exposè effect.
> > 
> > – Titlebar
> > 
> > Without closing the application, from your mockup there is no way to
> > switch between activities without closing the application as the app’s
> > menu is using the panel.
> 
> If by activities you mean the pages?
> Well, the app doesn't need to be closed in that case, only
> hidden/minimized.
> 
> My rationales:
> A.) Vertical space is more important than switching pages if one
> application has focus.
> B.) Netbooks are probably usually used for single apps in full screen. My
> proposal was made on this assumption, even though I'd like to enable users
> to switch between 10 apps if they choose to run that many.
> 
> Just now I had another idea: Wouldn't it be possible to implement
> multitouch gestures on touchpads that support them? Eg swipe left/right to
> switch between activities/pages?

no multitouch on X for now.

> > What if I open an application that has a lot of menu
> > options ? What should we do in this case ?
> 
> Same as with normal windows of Qt apps: Show an expander.
> 
> > Apple “fixes” this on OSX
> > limiting the number of menu options that one can create.
> > 
> > The window’s actions on the right are already implemented as a plasmoid
> > and there is no need to show the minimize button: if you want to switch
> > between applications you just do it, if you want to go to an activity
> > you just use the panel for that and if you want to close, the button is
> > there. In your mockup you’re duplicating the functionality: the same
> > action can be triggered by the list of windows and in the right side of
> > the panel.
> 
> No, it's not duplication. Here's why: In my proposal the menu allows to
> hide the whole application = all windows at once.
> The Minimize button only hides the active window. If you're running only
> single-window apps, it does not make a difference, but if an app has
> multiple windows, it is a difference.

right no you don't have a minimize button at all in netbook mode:
if there is no taskbar and if the desktop can be selected as any other window, 
the minizmize button has exactly no use.

> > – Bigger screens vs Average netbook user
> > 
> > In our research with *average* netbook users (not geeks), they usually
> > don’t connect output monitors/keyboards and specially they don’t do much
> > multitasking (when they do, the applications are always maximized
> > anyway).
> 
> I'm not arguing against your research. My proposal is not targeted against
> them, but just a collection of ideas that aims to make it easier if one
> user decides to either connect external monitors and/or do more
> multitasking. Btw, I know no geek with a netbook. Are geeks even allowed
> to posses such things? :-)
> 
> > That’s why we took the path of making all applications to run maximized
> > too. This came from user feedback.
> 
> In my proposal all apps are fullscreen by default as well.
> 
> > One thing that we could improve, is the ability to switch to a regular
> > Plasma desktop view if there is a monitor plugged in, as this is the case
> > where you have a bigger place to do your mess
> 
> A fried of mine (non-geek) uses such a setup and in fact she's the reason
> why I even started to think about Plasma Netbook. The built-in screen is
> 10 inches or so and her traditional GNOME layout totally cramps the
> screen. The external 22 inch screen OTOH is almost empty.
> Then I asked myself what could be done to still use the small screen
> effectively and make it easy to move windows to the big screen.

well, dragging a window to the other screen is quite easy :)
(interestingly enough, one could also experimen on running plasma desktop on 
the second monitor and netbook on the little one, if the computer is powerful 
enough...

> I think my proposal helps some people while OTOH hurting no one. That said,
> it's difficult to know without actually trying this out and I only have a
> 15,4" notebook, so I couldn't try my own proposal even if someone
> implemented it... :-(

xephyr, virtualbox..
way suboptimal but gives an idea

-- 
Marco Martin