Ideas (Vaporspeak?)

1. Do away with start-here: (done?)
   
2. Place launchers for applications: and favorites: in computer:
3. Create a favorites menu applet similar to the menubar.
4. Fix the bugs in the favorites: handler such as the broken trash can.
5. If feasible, replace the "main menu" with an applet that can embed into a panel.
   
6. Record all application launches in the run dialog MRU. (Everyone realizes they can drag launchers from the run dialog, right?)
7. Create a MRU menu applet which generates itself from the run dialog MRU. This applet would look like the new main menu applet.
8. Fedora's default "main menu" could then be a drawer with the main menu and mru applets embedded.
9. For extra credit, modify drawers to support "text beside icon" (and fix them so they don't run off the edges of the screen), implement the favorites menu like the proposed mru and main menu applets, and this would replace both the menubar and main menu hacks with a normal drawer that embeds favorites menu, main menu, and mru menu.
   

Here is a favorites menu mockup. Surprise, it looks similar to the one that was removed a few years ago. And a menus and drawers mockup.

History

Once upon a time there was a favorites menu that displayed the favorites: location. You could drag an item from applications: into favorites: and it would appear on the favorites menu. It was nice and simple and worked. So someone removed it, if I recall, because we could edit the main menu directly. And then someone broke/disabled the ability to edit the main menu. So users started creating panel drawers and putting their launchers in the drawers. And then (in FC1) GNOME 2.4 drawers never worked. So finally nothing but the desktop worked. So, users were left dragging launchers to their desktops creating a giant mess. Sadly, I have dozens of application launchers on my desktop. So, now we need a way to get to the desktop quickly and thus was created a show/hide desktop action.

I would add that there's no apparent way to edit launcher from nautilus. Unless of course the user somehow knows to associate desktop items with gnome-desktop-item-edit. Shouldn't this be a property page?

Comments

The applications: location could be replaced with the "better application browser" we hear about from time to time. It would have to be really good, though. Something of the magnitude of difference between the old and new file selector. Replacing it with a slightly better version or making a change that requires every application to be patched to use it may be unwise.

The concept of start-here: seemed pretty sound. But it is so underused, unimplemented, unexplained, etc that keeping it would probably do harm to any improvements that might be made on it. The reflex action of throwing it away may have overcome any future usefulness. It is perceived as useless because, well, right now it is useless.

I hate MRU application menus (ala Windows XP). Hate. Hate. Hate. I think the run dialog makes a better MRU. Many people may love MRU menus. Great. Make it possible to turn off somewhere, somehow. The last thing I want is my main menus randomly changing around based on what it thinks I want to do. Or make it a separate applet unto itself.

I don't mind the main menu as it stands. It is massive and clunky and ugly. But it provides quick access to approximately everything that is installed if you know where to look.

Rather than try to convince people someone just needs to just do something and show how it could work. One wouldn't have to fix the existing main menu to create something useful. I think most of this could be implemented outside the existing mechanisms. At the least, I think having the favorites menu back would be great. So long as someone doesn't rip out the favorites: location while we're not looking.

Labels: linux