11.04 usability

[bowens44]

I tried the latest 11.04 live CD this morning.

What is the reason for having the menu bar associated with an application on the top bar rather then on the application itself?


I find this completely unusable and counter intuitive. It greatly increase mouse movement.

I really can't fathom why they would want to separate the menus from the application window. IMO it makes absolutely no sense. Does any one see this as a good thing? If so , why?

[3Miro]

I tried the latest 11.04 live CD this morning.

What is the reason for having the menu bar associated with an application on the top bar rather then on the application itself?


I find this completely unusable and counter intuitive. It greatly increase mouse movement.

I really can't fathom why they would want to separate the menus from the application window. IMO it makes absolutely no sense. Does any one see this as a good thing? If so , why?

It makes it more attractive to Mac users. Check Mac forums for reasons why this is good. The only argument that I have found is that it makes things more "consistent".

The menu on the top panel seems rather buggy still. This is a beta after all, I am sure things will get better.

[matt_symes]

Hi

I sure i read here it could be undocked as well. (But maybe i dreamt it) :confused:

What is the current state of natty ? I have not has a play for a couple of weeks as it kept crashing when i installed the proprietary drivers.

Kind regards

[gyussz]

I have no problem with the global menu, because I don't really use the menu bar. Maybe after the first start of an application to configure settings for my needs.

Applications like Office suites, IDEs, image editors etc (where I might really need a menu bar) I use maximized, or on the left-half/right-half of the screen, so the mouse movement is not increased this way.

[wolfen69]

You could select the classic ubuntu desktop if unity doesn't suit you. Just log out and select ubuntu classic desktop. Then apps will return to normal.

[bowens44]

You could select the classic ubuntu desktop if unity doesn't suit you. Just log out and select ubuntu classic desktop. Then apps will return to normal.

I understand that. I was just trying to understand the reasoning behind this. How does it make sense to disassociate the menu from the application?

It certainly doesn't make the app easier to use.

[JRV]

You could select the classic ubuntu desktop if unity doesn't suit you. Just log out and select ubuntu classic desktop. Then apps will return to normal.

Sorry, but that doesn't work. It still uses the global menus.

[areeda]

I understand that. I was just trying to understand the reasoning behind this. How does it make sense to disassociate the menu from the application?

It certainly doesn't make the app easier to use.

When I first saw it, I thought the benefit would be less vertical space taken by application windows. With the 16:9 monitors and some with fewer lines this could be worth the disassociation you mention.

Joe

[coffeecat]

Sorry, but that doesn't work. It still uses the global menus.

You can disable global menus, but I can't remember how. It was mentioned in one of the threads in the Natty subforum.


I understand that. I was just trying to understand the reasoning behind this. How does it make sense to disassociate the menu from the application?

It's to utilise vertical screen space more efficiently in this age of widescreen monitors. Remove the menus from the window header and put them in the panel and you've saved a lot of vertical space. This is why the dock/launcher is on the left and not at the bottom of the screen which is the default MacOS position. With a widescreen monitor it uses available space better.

[msrinath80]

I understand that. I was just trying to understand the reasoning behind this. How does it make sense to disassociate the menu from the application?

It certainly doesn't make the app easier to use.

It has something to do with the fact that you save vertical pixels by using the so-called "Global menu". They want to do what Google did with Chrome. That said, I agree with you. It's quite irritating.

[hictio]

Personally I like Global Menu, been using it for quite some time now, the only thing I could not mustard at all is why they placed the window's button on the Gnome top Panel.

[Copper Bezel]

In the Classic desktop, you can right-click the global menu and remove it, and the menus will reappear in your applications. In Unity, follow this (http://www.webupd8.org/2011/03/disable-appmenu-global-menu-in-ubuntu.html#more) guide.

The change may seem counter-intuitive, but it does save screen space over having a panel and no global menu, and for maximized windows, it's the same as if the titlebar and panel weren't present at all. More importantly, once you get used to looking to the top of the screen for the menu, it's not really going to seem counter-intuitive, because it's always in the same place.

But yes, it's all about reducing the vertical pixel cost. On a widescreen monitor, a top panel takes almost twice as many pixels as a vertical one. Effectively getting rid of the titlebar and panel while keeping their functions available gives you a bit more space to work with.


the only thing I could not mustard at all is why they placed the window's button on the Gnome top Panel.

There's nowhere else to put it. = ) But you're talking about the Unity panel (it's not the same application as the Gnome Panel.)

[asmoore82]

What is the reason for having the menu bar associated with an application on the top bar rather then on the application itself?

I find this completely unusable and counter intuitive. It greatly increase mouse movement.

One of the usability theories is that it's much easier to hit a target on the edge of the screen - the top edge in this case. So while it may be a further distance for the mouse to travel, it actually travels much faster because we "snap" the mouse to the top edge with ease.

Personally, I like it only when my application is maximized - otherwise, I hate it.