From Grub to Shutdown project update

[Jens Reuterberg]

>From Grub-to-shutdown, a unified experience

GOAL OF PROJECT:
To create one sensation from grub to shutdown, where the user whenever she is 
outside of the desktop environment and interacting with the parts needed to 
make the desktop environment make sense feel like she is part of one unified 
whole instead of several small bits and pieces all working on their own.

PROJECT HISTORY AND ISSUES:
All you all probably recall the initial release of it was met with very 
negative opinions, mostly based on details (like the grub menu being bright 
blue) and that parts where implemented but not the whole making if feel less 
as a whole than some new details. Now these criticisms will come again during 
this release but it will at least be the criticism towards something new, than 
something that simply does not work to accomplish the intended effect.

Due to the projects size it has put a massive strain on the way we, developers 
and designers work. As the design in itself is in practice several small parts 
all being redesined individually it seems fairly straight forward, but without 
them all based on each other as one overarching whole, they simply don't make 
sense. Since it is almost impossible to test for designers before release and 
small glitches or misunderstandings when finally discovered are incredibly huge 
issues for the design - it becomes frustrating to designers. Since these fixes 
comes in AFTER the work is done and released and what seems as frivolous 
changes that are technically huge are pushed hard by designers, its incredibly 
frustrating for developers. 

Added to that the several different channels of communications means individual 
devs for each individual part talk to individual designers. Confusion ensues 
when the way designers and devs work, individual designers have fun ideas and 
suggestions that get easily translated into "hmmm the VDG wants this". Then 
the VDG as a whole notice parts have been implemented assuming that "hmmm the 
devs wants this" and the whole cycle continues.

PROJECT FIX:
This is a rather new development for us - and it requires some kind of 
extraordinary fix.

We have settled for two: the first is to set the entire project on lockdown. 
That means that ALL information not being followed by a "This is the opinion 
of the VDG that we want to implement" and combined with mockups or wikiedits 
is NOT ment as anything more as discussion topics or looking for theoretical 
input from the developers. We will as a group ensure that we minimize all this 
as much as possible, be clear with our intentions in discussions and that we 
as a group sign off properly on work. 

Second fix is the barebone-design of the project. What this is is that we 
create the BARE MINIMUM of what is needed for the design to work. A minimum of 
animations, effects etc. The entire design we are sending you now is what is 
the minimum for the entire project to make sense. The reason for that is so 
that instead of regressions, we have addons. Perhaps a new animation in the 
future, perhaps some tweaked placement or color changes at some point. What 
will NOT happen is that you (developers) will have people from us (VDG) 
turning up a month or two away demanding that everything in a certain area 
will be scrapped.
What we need, the VDG, is that when something is not clear, when something 
isn't obvious to you in the mockups - no matter how silly it may seem - you 
have to ask. And you have to accept that there may not be a direct answer. The 
person you ask may not be able to answer and it is up to us in the VDG to 
ensure that we all feel capable of saying "I don't know" (which has been an 
issue before). Our point is to ensure that the answer you get is correct. 

__________________________________________________


The Design:
This is a text run through of the proposed design for From Grub to Shutdown. 
Future ideas are placed within [brackets] and mean plans for future tweaks, 
things that do are not intended for this release or critical for the design to 
work as a whole.

Certain parts will have "Critical Notes" these are notes about technical 
things, usually concerning speed or feasibility that needs answering and 
testing first before too much work goes in as they otherwise need a redesign. 

Other parts have details pending. This will be marked clearly in this 
document. That means that the needed detail isn't exactly defined yet but will 
be done within days and will be communicated as clearly as possible.


GRUB MENU
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/CUJB96B7daE0buh

The grub menu has to be minimalistic in format. The criticism towards the old 
grub menu was that the blue color was too sharp and sudden. It also caused 
issues with the "dark square" that turn up after grub menu and the issues with 
the sudden sharp break between the blue grub menu and scrolling text when 
Plymouth doesn't work (due to proprietary drivers).

In this redesign we have essentially taken the earlier proposed grub menu 
design but changed the background to black and having the highlight be the 
object in bold and white (#ffffff) instead of the standard, normal font weight 
and light grey (#eff0f1)

[future ideas is to add small icons for each part of the grub menu, debian 
given a monochrome debian logo, arch an arch logo etc]


PLYMOUTH
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/FRWAcvz7sqZ6Mth

Like the grub theme the redesign is aimed towards minimizing bright colours. 
So the redesign is a black background. That means that we will go with 
simplistic styles and elegance more than anything in the design language. In 
this case clean light grey (#eff0f1) monochrome icons and a clear text also 
light grey is chosen with good spacing between the two.

Details Pending: a simple animation for the monochrome icons, with a 
placeholder "Plasma Icon" used as standard and made first. For this to happen 
the new Plasma icon must be chosen.


SDDM
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/PqngLBLynkq7JWG
Thumbnail Animation Mockup: https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/rQV5lS68blpAo1I

This is the tricky one, and the one that needs the most attention from all 
involved due to its complexity not just in design but in production. 
The main rule here has to be the smallest amount of design complexity at first 
and this has to be the focus. A minimum of animations are used at this first 
version and instead focusing on on proper placement on elements to convey the 
same information. This will give the whole SDDM a rather snappy and strict 
sensation as when selecting another user from the list this will automatically 
and without animation swap placement. 
Aside from that the design is almost identical from those already shown, but 
with some tweaks in regards to things like keyboard layouts.

The biggest shift is a gradient shift from "black" to SDDM. Essentially its a 
black overlay which goes from fully opaque to fully transparent when SDDM 
loads as a way to move from Plymouth, and the often occuring "second of sudden 
darkness", to SDDM and its blue stock wallpaper.

[future idea: here there will be animations changes and added effects which 
will make the snappy effects of the barebones model more smooth with said 
animations]

Details Pending: stock avatars will be finished as soon as possible based on 
photos mostly as that is way easier and the avatars was considered "creepy" we 
should have a well rounded amount of avatars.

Critical Notes #1: If the animation, the move from black to SDDM theme, is 
impossible to do quickly or if it stutters this part has to be rethought from 
scratch.
Critical Notes #2: SDDM themes and wallpaper changes, as the standard blue 
will annoy some users the switch to a preferred lockscreen wallpaper have to 
work. If not we need to know.

(Same as below, in Ksplash)
If a nice shift between desktop, where SDDM fades (see Ksplash below too) 
isn't possible, then we propose a temporary solution where SDDM fades quickly 
to black and have just a fade from black effect again in Ksplash (or handled 
entirely by Kwin as Ksplash seems not as relevant on many systems and just 
percieved as a delay). It really does depend on the technical feasiblity and 
the work it would require. 


KSPLASH
Ksplash is removed in favour for two clear effects, one is the "fade to 
desktop" already present in Kwin, the other is an effect where SDDM fades in a 
very specific way. (the SDDM interface fades leaving only the chosen logged in 
users avatar fading slightly slower (can be seen in the thumbnail gif named 
"SDDMfade")
Essentially SDDM fades, and then directly as part of it visually, a fade to 
desktop.

[future ideas: this animation, the slowness of the fade of the SDDM interface, 
the avatars fade may be tweaked slightly in the future, a shift in how the 
other avatars disappear as well with some movement planned as can be seen in 
earlier mockups. The reason for this not being present now is that its very 
tricky to get 1-to-1 exactness with animations and the more details the less 
exactness]

Critical Notes #1: if this handoff between SDDM and Ksplash is impossible for 
technical reason or will stutter another plan must be drawn up. The goal here 
is speed - if speed can be improved by having the animation SOLELY in SDDM and 
ignoring Ksplash then that is better.
For this reason we need technical input and help testing.
Critical Notes #2: The SDDM theme can switch wallpaper, the wallpaper being 
the LAST thing seen in combination with the logged in users avatar - its 
relevant that the this work if the user switch wallpaper so that the wallpaper 
is the last seen instead of "stock blue".

(same as above, in SDDM) 
If a nice shift between desktop, where SDDM fades (see Ksplash below too) 
isn't possible, then we propose a temporary solution where SDDM fades quickly 
to black and have just a fade from black effect again in Ksplash (or handled 
entirely by Kwin as Ksplash seems not as relevant on many systems and just 
percieved as a delay). It really does depend on the technical feasiblity and 
the work it would require. 



LOCK SCREEN
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/0WRG8Us8qElwgDP
Thumbnail Animation: https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/DR1HV3d9HRHRigJ

The locks screen has to share the basic concept of the SDDM screen as it is in 
practice, from the users perspective, almost the same thing.
Thats why it inherits the stock-blue background (editable from the lockscreen 
settings).
When the lockscreen is actvated it displays a swift fade-to-black from desktop 
and an even quicker fade-FROM-black to lockscreen. The goal is to make a swift 
switch and make it feel more like a secure door slamming than a slow fade.
If that feels too complex this late in the release cycle a temporary solution 
is just a direct switch, ignoring all animations.


SESSION SWITCHER
v1 (if wallpaper can be transparent overlay) https://share.kde.org/index.php/
s/8oDkgG8Fg4JBobU
v2 (if not) https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/a55FSa7JyGxc885

The session switcher is as far as we can tell a rather strangely set up thing, 
where all choices lead you directly to a lock screen to that active session, 
as such the only options it display are active sessions and the ability to 
start a new session, first leading to lockscreen for the sessions and the last 
leading to SDDM. Like Lockscreen it is either a temporary, direct snap to 
lockscreen/session switcher, or it has a smooth fade-to-black and a swift 
fade-FROM-black to session switch.

The main difference between Session Switcher and Lock Screen is that instead of 
having it cover the entire screen it is a black cover set at 70% opacity, 
meaning you can see the entire desktop below. This since the Session Switcher 
is not a security feature or privacy feature, it doesn't require the system to 
hide anything from the user.

Critical: according to Dev feedback the background on Session Switcher will 
use the lockscreen by default - so it will then use the opaque wallpaper set 
by Lockscreen.


SHUTDOWN/LOCK/ETC
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/YojnHEhf6qUmHLu

When a user press shutdown, lock and logout the desktop fades, darkens, and an 
overlay black at 70% opacity pops up the logout options are displayed with the 
one the user selected preselected and in the center, from there the user can 
use mouse or arrows to move to another option, like go from the shutdown to 
reboot. The selected option is fully opaque and white (#ffffff) and the not 
selected options are at 60% opacity and light grey (#eff0f1)


Entire catalogue of design is here:
https://share.kde.org/index.php/s/w1fWOb1QDbo98yZ

It will also be put up on Phabricator