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I like the review. I did not read the KDE part, but I read through the Unity part because I use it and am wondering if it is just me or if others are annoyed by

by reirob 14y ago

I like the review. I did not read the KDE part, but I read through the Unity part because I use it and am wondering if it is just me or if others are annoyed by some weirdness of Unity. It turns out the author remarked immediately the ergonomic gaps. I couldn't say it better so here the quotes: "[..] Unity takes a very weird stance when it comes to Windows management: if there’s more than a single instance [of a process/window] it will throw you into an exposé-like view with the corresponding windows (the rest fades out). [..] It’s a very disorienting interface that requires to travel long distances with the cursor. Why is it disorienting? The position of the window preview you selected in the exposé-view is not entirely related with the actual position of the window, moreover, all other Windows pop back adding even more noise.[..]" - this is exactly what I experience. And using Alt-Tab is NOT better if you have several terminal windows opened! "[..] Remember I mentioned Unity’s approach to menubars being like Apple’s? It only appears on hover. Isn’t that a little cryptic? Moreover, it automatically makes it impossible to know if there’s a menubar to begin with. Anytime a user installs a new application he/she is forced to check manually if there’s a menubar. It also makes it impossible to aim for the desired menu, you got to move your mouse to the top, wait for the menubar, and then visually search for the menu you want, then move your cursor again and then click on it. Why hide it? Is not like Canonical is doing something with all that space[..] It also cuts down the name of the application. Considering there’s no visual link between the menubar and the app it corresponds to (let alone the window), isn’t that just the exact opposite of what makes sense?[..]" - And some applications do not follow the menu on the top and instead show the menu in the window (LibreOffice, which I rely on daily). I do not want to complain about customizability of Unity. Most of the things I like. The standard experience just works. But the two points above are just irritating. And because I am using only the LTS of Ubuntu I hope these issues will be fixed in 1204 LTS.

pekk 14y ago
When I make a new instance of a window, I don't find that I am 'thrown' into an expose-like view. The window comes up as it would in any case. If I click on the dash icon for a program which already has multiple windows, I actually find it helpful to be presented with a choice between them, which is what this does. Use alt-` to switch between windows of the same program, without using that feature. With this minor adjustment from the Windows routine it is more pleasant. I agree it is a little cryptic, and overly concerned with space saving, only to show menu bars on hover and otherwise to show the window title. But, I think it is not an actual problem after a few seconds seeing how it works. On the other hand: I still have problems with dash coming up very slowly, and with windows nondeterministically moving to the wrong monitor, and with power usage on laptops. It isn't as though it's perfect. But I think the design is basically OK and Ubuntu is having more trouble on the technical end of things, with endless technical papercuts that never get addressed but always get their issues closed.
drivebyacct2 14y ago
You can install compizconfig-settings-manager and tell Expose (or whatever it's called, I forget) to use "natural" position instead of "normal" and it causes the window positions to map to their original positions on your workspace. The KDE folks are talking about the algorithm for managing that type of view for PW2 and mentioning algorithms that are over my head for arranging windows best.
Shorel 14y ago
Instead of Alt-tab, use Alt-` to switch between the several terminal windows opened. Also, for the menus there's the Hud. It's a keyboard interface for all menus on top. So press Alt, release the key, and then type 'Save as' when the Hud appears. It's the same for all other menu entries.

by reirob 14y ago

pekk 14y ago

When I make a new instance of a window, I don't find that I am 'thrown' into an expose-like view. The window comes up as it would in any case. If I click on the dash icon for a program which already has multiple windows, I actually find it helpful to be presented with a choice between them, which is what this does. Use alt-` to switch between windows of the same program, without using that feature. With this minor adjustment from the Windows routine it is more pleasant. I agree it is a little cryptic, and overly concerned with space saving, only to show menu bars on hover and otherwise to show the window title. But, I think it is not an actual problem after a few seconds seeing how it works. On the other hand: I still have problems with dash coming up very slowly, and with windows nondeterministically moving to the wrong monitor, and with power usage on laptops. It isn't as though it's perfect. But I think the design is basically OK and Ubuntu is having more trouble on the technical end of things, with endless technical papercuts that never get addressed but always get their issues closed.

drivebyacct2 14y ago

You can install compizconfig-settings-manager and tell Expose (or whatever it's called, I forget) to use "natural" position instead of "normal" and it causes the window positions to map to their original positions on your workspace. The KDE folks are talking about the algorithm for managing that type of view for PW2 and mentioning algorithms that are over my head for arranging windows best.

Shorel 14y ago

Instead of Alt-tab, use Alt-` to switch between the several terminal windows opened. Also, for the menus there's the Hud. It's a keyboard interface for all menus on top. So press Alt, release the key, and then type 'Save as' when the Hud appears. It's the same for all other menu entries.