improving unity: options and fixes you would like for next release (oneiric 11.10)

[madjr]

This is about making unity better, so please suggest ideas (or mockups), options and fixes to improve on the current interface.

it should give us a better idea of what is missing (you may also want to list the pros or advantages to compare).

you could list the things you like, the ones you didnt, the things you miss or find lacking and how you would improve them.

but please dont leave comments about things you know Wont happen like:

-make classic gnome-panels default!!!1 (sorry, this is going to be gone soon.)
-use gnone-shell by default (not going to happen, but will become available for install from repos)
-delete the dash/global menu, etc. (sorry, but these are the stuff we want to improve)
-etc.

also no TROLLING OR NON-CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS PLEASE!!! (use the many other threads for that) :)

thanks!

p.s. for bug reports see here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

[madjr]

1-pro:
search (people are used to using search engines, so having this was necessary)

improvement:
-categories are need too, so quicker way to browse from the ubuntu button (too many mouse click right now). or make the apps lens visible at the top when clicking the bfb (to me is not visible and hard to reach since is always folded at the bottom...).

2-pro:
frequent used apps listed.

improvement:
-should be visible right from the ubuntu button. some apps you dont want to pin, but would like to get to them just as fast.

3-pro:
global menu saves good space.

-improvement 1:
let the user detach / attach for the apps you need. Some apps you just use them unmaximized. Also useful for big monitors.

-improvement 2:
let the user toggle visibility. On some apps you want to keep it visible since is more useful than just window title.

more to come :)

[Throne777]

1) Greater stability. Unity currently feels like a beta release. For one, it seems to have major issues with full screen applications (I can't get any flash videos to fullscreen, and XBMC just crashes upon launch). Banshee seems to hang for a second or two when it's launched half the time, too.

2) Far greater performance. I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, 1 gig of RAM & a GeForce 6600 GT 128MB graphics card. When running Windows XP (eugh), I was able to play FarCry on full spec with ease. Unity makes running FF & Banshee a near computer crippling phenomena. It makes Vista look resource friendly.

3) Having the menu (File, View, Tools, etc) for applications that aren't maximised in the top panel is unintuitive.

4) Clicking on More Apps (after pressing Super) to find it listing every single application you have on the system as one of the options (Installed) is virtually useless (I have barely anything installed that doesn't come on there by default and I get a list of 119 applications).

5) When I search 'home', I want my Home folder to come up as one of the results.

6) If I use the Workspace Switcher to view all my desktops, I want to be able to drag one application from one desktop to another. Currently it just 'clones' the program, so you have the program running twice (one on each of the desktops). How it that useful?

[lucazade]

nice thread madjr..

Me and MightyMouse tried to do something similar in old Natty dev forum:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1727209

maybe we can merge good points from that thread.

[madjr]

nice thread madjr..

Me and MightyMouse tried to do something similar in old Natty dev forum:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1727209

maybe we can merge good points from that thread.

oh yes, that would be ideal.

[Calash]

Consistency in application behavior.

For example, when I have two file browser windows open and I click on the file browser button it shows me each window in an overlay no matter what workspace it is one. Virtualbox however does not do this.

I am not sold on Global Menus yet. They look....well....ugly in the current state, covering part of the application name. I need more time with them before I could give a more solid recommendation.

Default Unity size should be a bit smaller and the options to adjust it need to be easily accessible without installing an app.

Bug fixes. We need to resolve some of the more pressing issues before we can really say what could be improved.

[madjr]

1) Greater stability. Unity currently feels like a beta release. For one, it seems to have major issues with full screen applications (I can't get any flash videos to fullscreen, and XBMC just crashes upon launch). Banshee seems to hang for a second or two when it's launched half the time, too.

2) Far greater performance. I have an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ processor, 1 gig of RAM & a GeForce 6600 GT 128MB graphics card. When running Windows XP (eugh), I was able to play FarCry on full spec with ease. Unity makes running FF & Banshee a near computer crippling phenomena. It makes Vista look resource friendly.

3) Having the menu (File, View, Tools, etc) for applications that aren't maximised in the top panel is unintuitive.

4) Clicking on More Apps (after pressing Super) to find it listing every single application you have on the system as one of the options (Installed) is virtually useless (I have barely anything installed that doesn't come on there by default and I get a list of 119 applications).

5) When I search 'home', I want my Home folder to come up as one of the results.

6) If I use the Workspace Switcher to view all my desktops, I want to be able to drag one application from one desktop to another. Currently it just 'clones' the program, so you have the program running twice (one on each of the desktops). How it that useful?

hi, thx for the feedback, good recommendations.

i think 1, 2 and 6 are bugs.

maybe it was a bad upgrade but this stuff should not behave like that (at least they dont on my setup)

please file the bugs and/or reinstall. thx

[aaaantoine]

My suggestions -- in this particular thread -- are specific to the Dash. I've already suggested an alternative method on how to implement menu bars on non-maximized windows. Not going to waste the bits here. The complaints below are new (from me :P).

Improvement for Most Frequently Used: Currently this lists applications that are pinned to your launcher. In my case, 4 of the 6 visible are already pinned to my Launcher. Why waste space on this?

My suggestion: This area should be reserved for applications that are *not* already on the launcher (unless you type in search keywords; that's another story).


Dash Scrollbar Nuance: When looking at any lens, where there are three rows of icons (Most Frequently Used / Installed / Available for Download, or Recent / Downloads / Favorite Folders), there is a tiny amount of scrolling. Scrolling doesn't even reveal much of anything.

My suggestion: Eliminate scrolling in this case for the sake of polish.


Shortcuts Dash Needs Some Love: Eight simple, massive icons are there now: Media Apps, Internet Apps, More Apps, Find Files. Then beneath that, your default Browser, Photo app, Email app, and Media Player.

I'm not sure what to do here. For starters I skip straight over Media & Internet apps and go for More Apps. Meanwhile, this and the Find Files lens are both duplicated on the Launcher itself. Which one should I get used to clicking? Remember when the Ubuntu devs complained that there were three different ways to shutdown Ubuntu from the GUI?


Easier Category Access: If you're accessing your programs via mouse, it's a pain to look up a specific category of applications. It takes 3 clicks to get to a list of all applications. It takes four to FIVE clicks to get a list of all applications in a specific category. Me no likey. The old Gnome 2 behavior was better in that you could Click the Applications menu and then mouse-over the rest of the way to the program you want. KDE 4's menu even allows you to mouse-over most of the way to the application you're looking for. Gnome 3 *should* allow mouse-over to get to the applications view, but to be fair, you don't have to click to get to the Activities view in Gnome 3.

My suggestion: once you navigate your way into the Applications lens, have a vertical list of all application categories on the left side, with an arrow indicating which category you're currently looking at. Allow clicking or delayed mouse-over to switch categories. Get rid of the drop-down in the search box. I may have to whip up a mock-up to show what I'm talking about, and how to make it look nice.

[l3vity]

Thing's I'd really like to see: (mostly, small useful things)
Keyboard shortcuts improved, Unity seems to come full of keyboard controls to start lenses, so why not have keys assigned to also jump to menus inside the lenses, eg, ctrl+i expands all installed apps, ctrl+f for frequent apps etc.

I'd prefer it so that the workspace switcher was so that you clicked which workspace you wanted to go to, rather than click it to then select.

I'd like there to be an option to use the menu like gnome did, say pressing the bfb opens a lens with all the usual options of accessories, games etc. rather than the mostly redundant options we have now. Eg, file search, your clicking another icon when you can just type it into that search, seems pointless.

Allow program control over the menu's whilst it's inthe global menu, eg with firefox you can't open bookmarks in a new tab using ctrl+click, as it's treating it as ctrl+clicking on unity, not firefox

[ssam]

a nice control panel.

i found some settings in CompizConfig (Unity plugin). some in control center (launcher and menus). i had to remove a package (indicator-appmenu) to disable the global menus on my desktops big monitor, i'll probably keep the global menu on my netbook.

and a way to have a system monitor in the top panel.

stability seems pretty good now (opensource ATI driver). not had a unity crash for about a month.

[bizz101]

1. Better workspace management. I like what they did in Gnome Shell having workspaces at the right of the screen. Speaking of that - Unity doesnt have anything on the right. Could be used for something useful (like pidgin messaging ?).

2. In dash when I type "so" first result is 'Solitaire', but its more likely I would want Ubuntu Software Center. So I would like to see program listing ordered by frequency of use.

3. More options! Reordering on top panel, movable dock, desktop icon on dock option...

[Version Dependency]

One panel or dock...not two...just one. The current panel on top and dock on the side seems like they could have been combined rather easily.

One lens for searching for applications and for files...not two...not three (which is what you have if you include the dash)...just one lens can do all this.

All that said, I'm enjoying playing around with Unity 1.0.

[Magnes]

I'd like to see Unity reduced to a normal dock. Right now it's a dock that tries to be a DE and it's not a very good combination.

[ZarathustraDK]

I'd say get rid of the unused panel that stretches from "application name" to the tray-icons, it's a waste of space.

Rather make the utilized part of the panel adjust in size depending on whether you use the global menu or not, and how many tray-apps you have loaded. Erase the middle.

It'd leave more space for pretty backgrounds, and also be a more significant visual indicator when something changes due to window-switching...

...and it wouldn't feel like an empty Gnome 2-panel that you can't interact with. :)

[fballem]

1) Configuration utility (GUI-based) for Unity. This should control such things as icon size and global menues. This should be installed by default and easily found.

2) Much simpler way to add applications to the menus and launchers. The process as described is very clumsy. Much prefer the old way of being able to right-click and have an 'add menu' option, complete with being able to select categories.

3) Small point - any way to make sure that the weather indicator application starts on startup?

4) Switching Workspaces is very cumbersome in the current implementation - click on workspace switch in launcher, then double click on the workspace. Would much prefer to have an indicator in the task bar (or whatever that thing is at the top) and just click on the workspace that I want to go to. Another option might be to find a way to single click to the workspace in the launchpad.

5) Global menus for applications that are not maximised makes no sense. The application menus should still be attached to the window in which the application runs unless the application is maximised. If there is an option for disabling global menues, then it should be configurable (see item 1).

Thanks,

[Copper Bezel]

The top thing is called a Panel.

The difference between hovering the upper left corner and clicking the Home Button needs to be sorted out, as it could be potentially confusing. Similarly, the Window Control applet needs to control only the maximized window, so that a non-maximized window in front of a maximized window isn't closed or maximized when the user intends to unmaximize or close the background maximized window.

I'll second providing the option to make the Application Menu never autohide and peel off the Panel for non-maximized windows, space concerns be damned, because the menu needs to remain visible, and for some apps, it's useful to be able to access it in a non-minimized window in the same action as window selection, by clickthrough.

Adding items to the Launcher from right-click in the Applications view of the Dash would also be nifty and consistent. Reducing the minimum icon size for the Launcher would also be convenient, as with the pinned apps I have right now in AWN/DBX, plus Unity's extra widgets, I'd have folded icons at the bottom.

I don't think reverting the Workspace Switcher button to the Workspace Switcher applet's behavior is a good idea, because the Launcher items need to keep a consistent button behavior - which part you click shouldn't matter. However, the button could launch a small preview of workspaces in a menu "callout" like the ones used for other Launcher items and allow the user to switch from there, like AWN's Slick Switcher, instead of jumping to Expo mode.

More obvious access to system settings, preferably by a Lens, would be a perk.

[NormanFLinux]

I'd like to see a built-in category finder. It makes more sense than a global menu and then submenus - it makes it hard to find what you're specifically looking for.

Make Unity 2D default and allow Unity to be run with any compositing engine - even Metacity if the user so desires. This would increase its potential on computers that don't come with high powered graphics cards.

Make the Unity scrollbar fully configurable - allow users to drop and drag applications on it and allow them to drag applications in a preferred order. Allow users to pin files to the scrollbar for quick launch when its needed.

These three things would vastly improve Unity and make it relevant to users day to day needs. These things aren't currently possible and it now takes a lot more mouse clicks to get routine things done. Reduce that where possible.

An intuitive Unity is possible - if Canonical listens to user feedback.

[wojox]

I think they should get rid of the "Software Center Recommends" and replace it with "Your Newly Installed Programs".

How many times have people logged on and asked "I just installed xyz and I can't find it!"

[fballem]

The top thing is called a Panel.

...

I don't think reverting the Workspace Switcher button to the Workspace Switcher applet's behavior is a good idea, because the Launcher items need to keep a consistent button behavior - which part you click shouldn't matter. However, the button could launch a small preview of workspaces in a menu "callout" like the ones used for other Launcher items and allow the user to switch from there, like AWN's Slick Switcher, instead of jumping to Expo mode.

More obvious access to system settings, preferably by a Lens, would be a perk.

Thanks for clarifying the term for the top thing (lol).

I like your idea of the Workspace Switcher operation. It's two clicks instead of the one in Gnome 2, but your reasons are sound (consistency in the Launcher). I could live with the callout as long as the callout only requires one click to switch the workspace.

Thanks for your thoughts on the other ideas.

Regards,

[oedipuss]

I'd like to see overlay scrollbars in apps that don't or can't currently use them, like chrome, firefox and the terminal. Might be impossible though.

Other than that, I remember seeing a mockup that grouped open application launchers (icons, since they're open?) per workspace, that was kind of nice. The current workspace switcher button is kind of annoying .. I find myself always searching for it, it's not even in a very prominent place.

Or, perhaps a popup could appear on the bottom right corner similar to the one that shows up when switching workspaces, that could act as switcher and preview. Afaik that corner is unused by default. Somewhat undiscoverable but I can't think of anything else on the spot.

[aaaantoine]

KDE's Expo equivalent will perform the equivalent to "Scale" on each workspace when zoomed out. This actually used to annoy me a bit, but I'm kinda looking for it now. :P

[Copper Bezel]

The Mutter mockup of Unity performed the workspace switcher function in this way as well, as does Gnome Shell. I, too, spent just enough time with KDE to get attached to it and miss it under Compiz. I wonder if an alternate Expo would be possible within the Compiz framework.

[TR82]

I agree with many of the suggestions so far. I don't think my suggestions add much but here goes.

Unity should look like a dock and feel like a dock. That means I get to decide what goes on the dock & what doesn't, I should be able to choose the dock size & location on the screen. And I should be able to adjust my preferences by right clicking on the dock itself, rather than via CCSM.

I think the top panel is now redundant. It doesn't add much to the scheme of things, it doesn't look right & should be amalgamated into Unity itself. So the Shut Down/Restart etc button needs pinned to Unity.

The workspace switcher needs a gentle revision. It should be "one click" instead of multiple click.

And if I can get my eye candy to work without conflicts or having to scour this forum for solutions ... and if the little glitches can be sorted, the workarounds turned into proper solutions ... then yeah, Unity would be something I'd actually enjoy using.

[EmasXP]

Native settings dialog for the dock would be nice. The only things I can think of though is autohide and size. Position (left/right/bottom) would be great too.

A button to hide all the windows and show the desktop.

[madjr]

Native settings dialog for the dock would be nice. The only things I can think of though is autohide and size. Position (left/right/bottom) would be great too.

A button to hide all the windows and show the desktop.

-with ccsm you can auto hide and resize it. but yes they need to release a simpler gui.

-changing the position at the bottom for example is not a feature they planned, but is almost possible now, someone just needs to submit a good patch for it (the code is open, so..) and am pretty sure they will approve it.

-a show desktop button is planned

[elegant55]

1. The dock can have two states:

One state shows all the launchers and running application icons as is now, (which can be toggled when mouse over upper left corner.)

The other state just show the running applications on current work space. (which can be toggled when mouse touch the left side, or always visible)

2. The location of the dock along with BFB should be customizable.

3. Global menus should be always visible.

[oedipuss]

3. Global menus should be always visible.

How about if the menu was visible under the window title, but dimmed and blurred? Just to indicate it's there. Maybe even less noticeable than the picture, and certainly better looking, but that's the idea.
On mouse over it could cover the title completely. I don't see the need for the title's current half hidden state, when the menu is active.

PS: there's a perfectly nice menu for when no window (or the desktop itself) is selected, similar but not identical to nautilus', with places and everything, and I found out just now , trying to take a screenshot o_o

[Copper Bezel]

You know, finally getting the chance to actually play with it a bit, I feel the need to retract some of my earlier criticisms. I'm having some issues with Compiz, but Unity 2D is impressing the hell out of me. The home button behaviors and the Application Menu are actually more intuitive and well thought-out than I'd expected.

[Exodist]

I have been very skeptical of the Unity interface for some time. I have spent much time doing the college thing that I havent had a chance to sit down and really absorb Unity UI in its whole. I just got went from Lucid classic DE to 11.04 yesterday. So there may be some things I havent either figured out, or just over looked.

But so far my impressions are good. In fact I am steering toward Unity 3D over Gnome Shell.

There are so many good things that I could fill the page pointing them out, but I rather point out a few eye sores that may steer a skeptical person away or something that may make the UI hard to learn if they are new to computers.

- First off is the Menu Bar options, putting it up at the top left corner is good. Mac-ish, but good. Having it auto hide with the name of the apt open is bad. Its hard to read and can be confusing. I would rather see it up there all the time, and in addition to help the user know what apt is running, we could have the icon of the running apt on the apt bar be highlighted or hinted in some artistic but easy to understand fashion.

- Second, is some of the UI icons are missing. Like the Back and Forward buttons in firefox. Plus a few more.

- Third is the modification made to Firefox4. Taking away the ability to let the user hide the menu options was bad choose and putting the home button at the end was annoying. To save time and effort, I honestly feel leaving Firefox4 unchanged is best. I for one was so annoyed that I uninstalled it and grabbed the latest from mozillas website.

- Forth quirk is the scroll bar overlay. I am not against this idea, matter of fact I think its a great idea that could be a wonderful feature if tweaked. Now at first for me, I almost overlooked it. But then hovering the mouse over the colored accent, I realized hey its the scroll bar. For someone new to computers, this is going to be hell to explain to someone with bad eyesight. I have a 32" LCD at 1920x1080 and it was still hard for me to see. Gaining the real-estate is ehh OK, never see a 18px scroll bar take away any space since my days running my Tandy Desktop. Never the less I like the overlay scroll bar. But I feel the small small scroll bar about 8-10px thick would be a better option due to the increasing monitor resolutions and for people like myself that are slowly going blind. Never the less, I would like to see the scroll bar overlay, just the position indicator needs to be better defined. One of the drawbacks to the position indicator being so small is when you have lots of content to scroll through, it can be difficult to a since to get the scroll bar overlay to show up.

- Last thing, the top bar and the icon bar feel to separate, they dont feel unified to me. I think it would look better if the both bars appeared to be one solid device. Also making the top bar semi translucent like the icon bar as well. The small Ubuntu Icon at the top left corner also feels to underwhelming.


If these things listed can be addressed, 11.10 can be a great release.

I have been off the forums for about 2 years now, just checking in every now and then. But with me finishing the rest of my college up over this summer I feel I have the time to devote to help make the next LTS one that really can shine.

Cheers,
Exo

[Copper Bezel]

- First off is the Menu Bar options, putting it up at the top left corner is good. Mac-ish, but good. Having it auto hide with the name of the apt open is bad. Its hard to read and can be confusing. I would rather see it up there all the time, and in addition to help the user know what apt is running, we could have the icon of the running apt on the apt bar be highlighted or hinted in some artistic but easy to understand fashion.

I'm thinking just switching the default behavior would do. Display the truncated title and the menu normally, and then roll over to the full title if the user hovers the truncated title.


- Last thing, the top bar and the icon bar feel to separate, they dont feel unified to me. I think it would look better if the both bars appeared to be one solid device. Also making the top bar semi translucent like the icon bar as well. The small Ubuntu Icon at the top left corner also feels to underwhelming.

I think it's designed around two ideas - that the panel has to integrate with the window decorations and that the Launcher bar needs to look fluid sliding in and out of the screen frame. If the panel is transparent and matches the Launcher by default, then the window seems to have no decorations when maximized, and the window controls don't seem visually connected to the window.

I do still agree with the earlier point that the Workspace Switcher should be moved down with the Trash instead of staying with the application icons. Positioning is going to do more work in distinguishing the two types of icons than the current halo color difference does.

Since I haven't used 3D yet, does the same behavior apply as in 2D that hovering any part of the Home Button activates the Launcher? I was under the impression that only the upper left corner did, and this seemed counter-intuitive and inconsistent. The behavior in 2D seems ideal.

[aaaantoine]

My suggestions -- in this particular thread -- are specific to the Dash. I've already suggested an alternative method on how to implement menu bars on non-maximized windows. Not going to waste the bits here. The complaints below are new (from me :P).

. . .

I may have to whip up a mock-up to show what I'm talking about,

And here it is.

[NormanFLinux]

Redesign Unity to allow it to be run as a part of any Ubuntu desktop environment... Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. Why should it be restricted to just one type of desktop? Every other dock can be run with any DE the user desires.

Unity should be the same.

[aaaantoine]

I'm sure the Unity 2D and 3D codebases will eventually merge. Don't ask me how it will work, though. One runs off of Compiz and the other uses Qt.

[Peter09]

The trouble with removing pinned applications is that I may choose to run an application which is pinned from the dash.

For instance I may have several open windows and I want to run an application but cannot see the launcher nor remember where the application is in the Launcher. The quickest way would be to type Super=>Ter and run the terminal, for example.

[el_koraco]

And here it is.

This is a very good idea. For reel. You should present it at Launchpad.

[LADmaticCA]

And here it is.

That is nice indeed. Might as well add a Places menu to the dash and then we could get rid of the Applications and Places lenses.

[aaaantoine]

The trouble with removing pinned applications is that I may choose to run an application which is pinned from the dash.

For instance I may have several open windows and I want to run an application but cannot see the launcher nor remember where the application is in the Launcher. The quickest way would be to type Super=>Ter and run the terminal, for example.

My verbose suggestion was to remove them from most frequently used, but to bring them back in the event of a keyword search.

Anyway, there's a bug on Launchpad (don't remember the #) that makes roughly the same complaint, and the opener's suggestion is to move the pinned applications to the bottom of the most frequently used list, rather than removing them outright.

As far as presenting my ideas, I've tried the Ayatana mailing list as that's supposedly the preferred method. But I guess I'll try Launchpad too.

[madjr]

And here it is.

cool.

but, looks pretty cluttered (mostly because the categories on the left and some other stuff), but seems promising.

i think you can check how cardapio works so you can perfect tune your mockup :)

anyway, nice job.

[odiseo77]

Already posted this in another thread, but since this one is specific for suggestions, I think it's a good idea to post it here too: It would be nice if there was an option to change the launcher's "unhide" time to a given number of milliseconds (an arbitrary number of milliseconds of choice), when it's set to "Autohide" on the CCSM (the time of appearance when I put the pointer on the left border is a bit too long for my taste). :)

[Oxwivi]

One thing that is completely feels wrong (but isn't) is the search capability. It feels wrong because it FAILS:

I want to listen to music, I don't know the name of the music player, so I write music, but nothing appears. Banshee Media Player doesn't have "music" in the name.

Search keywords should include software/program description. Is Google API open-source? Zeitgeist plus Google API equals to epic dash.

[NCLI]

One thing that is completely feels wrong (but isn't) is the search capability. It feels wrong because it FAILS:

I want to listen to music, I don't know the name of the music player, so I write music, but nothing appears. Banshee Media Player doesn't have "music" in the name.

Search keywords should include software/program description. Is Google API open-source? Zeitgeist plus Google API equals to epic dash.
I agree with the overall idea, but your example isn't very good (http://linearfix.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/dash_unity.jpg) :p

[Exodist]

One thing that is completely feels wrong (but isn't) is the search capability. It feels wrong because it FAILS:

I want to listen to music, I don't know the name of the music player, so I write music, but nothing appears. Banshee Media Player doesn't have "music" in the name.

Search keywords should include software/program description. Is Google API open-source? Zeitgeist plus Google API equals to epic dash.

Perhaps in time we could add it to read tag information. So when anyone types "music" it pulls up everything associated with music.

You should help work on this. :-)

[madjr]

Already posted this in another thread, but since this one is specific for suggestions, I think it's a good idea to post it here too: It would be nice if there was an option to change the launcher's "unhide" time to a given number of milliseconds (an arbitrary number of milliseconds of choice), when it's set to "Autohide" on the CCSM (the time of appearance when I put the pointer on the left border is a bit too long for my taste). :)

yes, i also noticed some people wanting it to appear immediately ;p

i think this could become like a bug report.

if you report it i'll sub to it :)

[aaaantoine]

Already posted this in another thread, but since this one is specific for suggestions, I think it's a good idea to post it here too: It would be nice if there was an option to change the launcher's "unhide" time to a given number of milliseconds (an arbitrary number of milliseconds of choice), when it's set to "Autohide" on the CCSM (the time of appearance when I put the pointer on the left border is a bit too long for my taste). :)

I definitely agree on making it an option, because...

1. Mark Shuttleworth himself said the design was intentional to prevent the surprise pop-up menu when moving to interact with your window on that edge of the screen.
2. I agree with the current design. I might even take it a step further and eliminate the left-edge unhide, so that I can utilize the built-in shove-to-corner movement that Unity shares with Gnome Shell.

[NCLI]

I definitely agree on making it an option, because...

1. Mark Shuttleworth himself said the design was intentional to prevent the surprise pop-up menu when moving to interact with your window on that edge of the screen.
2. I agree with the current design. I might even take it a step further and eliminate the left-edge unhide, so that I can utilize the built-in shove-to-corner movement that Unity shares with Gnome Shell.
You can disable the left-edge unhide in the "Launcher and Menus" settings window. That's all it contains for now tough.

[odiseo77]

yes, i also noticed some people wanting it to appear immediately ;p

i think this could become like a bug report.

if you report it i'll sub to it :)

Sure, as soon as I open a launchpad account (probably tonight, since I'll be a little busy at day) :)

[odiseo77]

I definitely agree on making it an option, because...

1. Mark Shuttleworth himself said the design was intentional to prevent the surprise pop-up menu when moving to interact with your window on that edge of the screen.
2. I agree with the current design. I might even take it a step further and eliminate the left-edge unhide, so that I can utilize the built-in shove-to-corner movement that Unity shares with Gnome Shell.

Yes, I know what you mean; if the delay time is too short, it could be annoying because the launcher would pop up just by touching the left border of the screen (that's why I said to make it a customizable option)... not that's it's too uncomfortable for me the way it is now, but sometimes I would like it to pop up a bit faster (just a minor issue) :)

[aaaantoine]

You can disable the left-edge unhide in the "Launcher and Menus" settings window. That's all it contains for now tough.

You can also apply the unhide function to different edges of the screen, for whatever reason.

[Copper Bezel]

Also baffling to some new users is that the Launcher autohides by default at all. I agree with making the raise transition time configurable, and this is in keeping with other similar Compiz plugin behaviors, but I don't think autohide should be the default.

[Daedal]

a quick and easy way to make stuff you've compiled from source show up in dash would be great.

dash is much less mouse friendly than the old menus.
ignoring the ease of use for what has become a very important input device is lame, especially for tablet users.
a decent mouse interface option in dash would be nice and no being able to choose a category at the top left corner of dash doesn't count as decent.
unity is great if you only use a keyboard but it loses cool points with the reduced usability for just mouse navigation.

it does get a bit less annoying once you get all your favorite programs on the launcher and don't have to use the dash as much but until then it's kind of a big deal for people who like to use the mouse and it's always a big deal for any tablet user who needs to get to something that they don't use enough to have on their launcher.

as far as the unity panel goes...

global menus only on maximized windows as an option at the very least.
i know it's been said many times but seriously they're fine on maximized windows but horrid otherwise.
i removed the packages because that alone was a deal breaker for me. if i hadn't have been able to turn them off then i'd have quit using unity completely even though the rest of my gripes with unity are minor issues.

the ability to arrange things on the unity panel how you want would be nice. not everyone likes their window buttons on the left... where they're forced to on every maximized window no matter where you have them in your window theme.

on that note it'd also be nice if the buttons on the unity panel actually matched the ones in your window theme.

the ability to always show the global menu instead of just on mouse over would be nice.

i would love an auto hide option for the unity panel.
if you maximize a window the panel should show back up again but there should be a way to disable it from taking over the title bar/buttons/app menu for certain applications.
for example chrome or chromium which loses screen space compared to use with an auto hidden gnome panel or firefox 4 with it's button menu which uses the same amount of screen space with the unity panel or with an auto hidden gnome panel.

i like the launcher a lot already but it could still do with a bit of improvement.

being able to right click on the unity launcher and add a custom launcher would be nice.

likewise, being able to open a gui to add quick lists to launchers by right clicking the icon would be great too.

granted not everyone is going to know the various options for each program but it's easy enough to find and it's also very easy question to answer to new people who don't know how to find them yet. it doesn't get much easier than telling them to open a terminal and type "man *program name*" or "*program name* --help."

i'd like the ability to remove the workspace switcher icon. i know there are plenty of people besides myself who never use expo because it's faster to ctrl+alt+right or ctrl+alt+shift+right.

i saw someone asking before if there were a way to add a right click option to access the properties for your mounted devices in the launcher like you can for their desktop icons. i think that was a great idea since no one is likely to want to have them showing both in the launcher and on the desktop.

i've only been using unity since beta 2 still, i think it's alright or even nice after removing the global menus. i tried using them for a few weeks but the more i used them the more i disliked them.

sorry for all the blah blah. i know it's a lot but aside from the global menus for every window i do like unity already.

[deannot]

I'm a little late but i had to say it even if its not make any changes.
The most important things i would like to see changed on unity is:

1) the "apps available for download" disabledfrom the menu, im happy with software center. i would like it without favourites too but "you cant always have what you want" im asking to much.

2) close,minimise,maximise on the panel even if im not on fullscreen on the app. i think it needs to be on one place only or on the panel or on the application and not looking for them on the background app on the panel.

3)menu bar always visible, i know..to much mac os x but i think its the right way to do it.

i think those are reasonable and i would like to apologies for my English

[John F]

I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Unity Launcher on the left since that is where I keep the Dock on all my Macs (five current and running). I would however like a choice since when running a computer RDP the two launchers can get mixed up (with the Macs I can move one to the other side).

John F

[ctrlmd]

Unity Launcher
should be flexible by means you can move it anywhere you want
left right bottom up maximized as a bar or minimal as a dock

[capink]

One thing that is completely feels wrong (but isn't) is the search capability. It feels wrong because it FAILS:

I want to listen to music, I don't know the name of the music player, so I write music, but nothing appears. Banshee Media Player doesn't have "music" in the name.

Search keywords should include software/program description. Is Google API open-source? Zeitgeist plus Google API equals to epic dash.

Unity reads the <Generic Name> and the <Comments> fields of the *.desktop files. If banshee packagers put the word music in either of this fields the problem would be solved.

[Linuxratty]

Unity Launcher
should be flexible by means you can move it anywhere you want
left right bottom up maximized as a bar or minimal as a dock

Agreed.

Open window tabs neatly stacked according to app, so if a person is using the Gimp,all the layers being used are stacked.

Not everyone has perfect vision,so a scroll bar should be a choice for users who have a hard time seeing microscopic arrows.

Right click,change background,etc.

[LiquidMeson]

I'd like to see Unity reduced to a normal dock. Right now it's a dock that tries to be a DE and it's not a very good combination.

this.

[mamamia88]

i don't know about you, but whenever i have multiple windows open and not minimized then when i maximize a windows (firefox for example) it's completely white and you can't do anything in it. that really needs to be fixed.

[Copper Bezel]

@ LiquidMeson: It has nothing to do with a DE. It's a plugin for the window manager, and it needs to be integrated with Compiz for some of the window managment features it includes.

[mamamia88]

It has nothing to do with a DE. It's a plugin for the window manager, and it needs to be integrated with Compiz for some of the window managment features it includes.

alright fair enough just annoying.

[swoll1980]

Right click menus on launcher icons would be cool. Like in windows 7

[beew]

Tray icons should be enabled by default. I don't know what the heck was the reason to hide all tray icons. I enabled them by whilisting all applications. But now whenever there are non default tray icons on the panel the volume control stops working.

[Copper Bezel]

alright fair enough just annoying.
Sorry, my comment was meant in response to LiquidMeson and Magnes, not you. The bug you're describing sounds serious and needs to be fixed.

[Khakilang]

The Dash menu should have shortcut for categorise Apps only instead of frequent application which can be keep in launcher. So that the new user will not be confuse by the Browse the web in the Dash menu and the Firefox in the launcher. No point in doing double work.

So the Dash menu should have Media Appa, Inter Apps, Graphic Apps, Office Apps and so on. The + Lens for application can be remove from the launcher in that way.