What would you call the stripe at the top of the screen?

[Paddy Landau]

This question is on behalf of the Ubuntu Manual team. Unofficially.

What would you — if you were a complete newbie — call the long thin bit at the top of the screen that holds the application title, the menu (sometimes), the icons, and the other bits of information such as the time?

It is currently called the "panel", but that is not an intuitive name as a panel is usually not long and thin!

We're looking for a word or short phrase (two words, probably) that would let even a newbie instantly understand what is meant when looking at the screen.

[fatality_uk]

This question is on behalf of the Ubuntu Manual team. Unofficially.

What would you — if you were a complete newbie — call the long thin bit at the top of the screen that holds the application title, the menu (sometimes), the icons, and the other bits of information such as the time?

It is currently called the "panel", but that is not an intuitive name as a panel is usually not long and thin!

We're looking for a word or short phrase (two words, probably) that would let even a newbie instantly understand what is meant when looking at the screen.

infobar springs to mind!

[devondashla]

Well, in windows, it is called a taskbar. However in pretty much every major Linux DE, it is called a panel. Examples are gnome-panel, KDE has the option 'add a new panel,' xfce4-panel, etc. I think there should be a description at some point in the installation where all the terminology is described, such as "The Panel is the long strip of information at the top of your screen," and whatever explanations you deem necessary.

[vasa1]

This question is on behalf of the Ubuntu Manual team. Unofficially. ...
Are there plans to redo http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements ?

[Paddy Landau]

Are there plans to redo http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements ?
No, just brainstorming at the moment.

[forrestcupp]

Coming from Windows, I'd call it a taskbar. The problem is that in Unity and Gnome Shell, it's not really a taskbar. I agree that infobar sounds good.

[GreatDanton]

+1 for infobar

[Elfy]

Panel

[coffeecat]

We're looking for a word or short phrase (two words, probably) that would let even a newbie instantly understand what is meant when looking at the screen.

Top bar?

[Paqman]

What's wrong with panel? Made sense to me when I was a noob*

Simply swapping one piece of jargon for another isn't going to make much difference unless the former name was particularly confusing in some way. Panel is a perfectly good name, so by referring to it as something else you're actually going to create more confusion, as some people will be calling it something different from others.

Stick with one name, even if it's not the absolute best name possible. Good enough is good enough.

*This statement of course makes the delusional assumption that I'm somehow no longer a noob.

[vasa1]

This question is on behalf of the Ubuntu Manual team. Unofficially.
...
Any more information available about this Ubuntu Manual team?

[t0p]

How about "the stripe at the top of the screen"?

[stalkingwolf]

tool/s bar? on my desktop that is where the tools i use frequently reside.

[t0p]

Any more information available about this Ubuntu Manual team?

If you go to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual/ (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual/), you will learn that the Ubuntu Manual Team (https://launchpad.net/%7Eubuntu-manual) is "a group of volunteers striving to improve Ubuntu education by creating quality, up-to-date and consistent learning materials and documentation." Most interesting. a way for people who are literate but can't code or spare much cash to contribute.

[Paddy Landau]

Some great responses so far, thank you! I'll reply to a selection.


Top bar?
Top bar is lovely, because it says exactly what it is and it is intuitive, even for someone brand new to computers. It's a bar and it's at the top.


What's wrong with panel?
Not intuitive. Someone brand new to computers won't know what you mean. On Unity, the Launcher bar looks more like a panel than the top bar, and indeed that is what I thought at the beginning. A panel is usually a rectangle that is not thin.


Simply swapping one piece of jargon for another isn't going to make much difference unless the former name was particularly confusing in some way.
That's the point. We want to eliminate jargon, and speak English.


Any more information available about this Ubuntu Manual team?
Are you looking to volunteer (http://ubuntu-manual.org/getinvolved)?


How about "the stripe at the top of the screen"?
Precise, to be sure. It would do well as part of the description but, I rather suspect, not as the phrase to use repeatedly throughout the manual.


tool/s bar? on my desktop that is where the tools i use frequently reside.
Yes… however, the bar contains not only the tools, but also the menu (sometimes), the application title, and other information. I suppose you could consider all of them to be tools.

[Elfy]

I'd suspect that the real point is what would people coming to use Ubuntu be more likely to expect it to be called.

[paulofebers]

what's wrong with the "panel?" It's what the OS calls it, therefore why not just say in the manual "The 'Panel' (aka that bar on the top of the screen)"

[malspa]

Panel.

[MadmanRB]

Its a panel, it always has been a panel and it always be a panel.

[click4851]

top bar

[odiseo77]

I call it top bar/upper bar.

[blackbird34]

explain that the "top bar" is usually called a "panel".

Done.

[sunfromhere]

Menu bar.

It's a bar with menus on it :D

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

Top bar?

Firefox has an option to show or hide the Menu bar. I think Top bar would be good for the description of the desktop.

You should also add a note that it is also called a panel. In some DEs if you right click on the top or bottom panel you will see "Add to Panel..." and "About Panels".

[juancarlospaco]

floccinaucinihilipilificator (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floccinaucinihilipilification)


or bar

[CK000]

How about simply calling it the utility panel?

[castrojo]

It's officially called the menubar but even multiple people on the team use the terms "panel" and menubar interchangeably

http://wiki.ubuntu.com/MenuBar

[Linuxratty]

top bar

Top taskbar...The bottom,if you have one, is the bottom taskbar.

[Papi47]

Why not call it the Top Panel

[malspa]

Not intuitive. Someone brand new to computers won't know what you mean.

Someone brand new to new to computers? The least of their problems would be understanding what "panel" means.

[vasa1]

...
Are you looking to volunteer (http://ubuntu-manual.org/getinvolved)?
...
New thread please if you think fit.

BTW, http://planet.ubuntu-manual.org/ currently shows "This webpage is not available
The server at planet.ubuntu-manual.org can't be found, because the DNS lookup failed."

[tulipán]

+1 for top bar - i am a newbie, i lost my "top bar" (twice now) and had no idea how to describe the problem in the forums to look for a solution. and thumbs up for the initiative too! :)

[malspa]

It's officially called the menubar but even multiple people on the team use the terms "panel" and menubar interchangeably

http://wiki.ubuntu.com/MenuBar

Yeah. I prefer "panel, but I'm also fine with "menu bar."

Here's another link to a page where it's called both "panel" and "menu panel": http://unity.ubuntu.com/projects/unity/

And it was called "panel" here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Unity_Architecture.pdf

But, of course, "menu bar" here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements/19166#19166

So, whatever. Not even close to being a pressing issue, IMHO. I'm pretty sure just about anyone will know what I'm talking about if I refer to it as the "panel."

[Paddy Landau]

How about simply calling it the utility panel?
That's a nice idea.


It's officially called the menubar but even multiple people on the team use the terms "panel" and menubar interchangeably
Just today, it was pointed out on the manual list that "menu bar" is not only the official Ubuntu term, but can also be found in multiple places in the System Settings.


Someone brand new to new to computers? The least of their problems would be understanding what "panel" means.
LOL. I have , however, read several stories of older people being introduced to Ubuntu as their first computer experience and finding it easy to use — despite any nomenclature.

[kurt18947]

That's a nice idea.


Just today, it was pointed out on the manual list that "menu bar" is not only the official Ubuntu term, but can also be found in multiple places in the System Settings.


LOL. I have , however, read several stories of older people being introduced to Ubuntu as their first computer experience and finding it easy to use — despite any nomenclature.

Top Bar or Menu Bar, either seems logical. I think it'd be interesting to have some people who have only used Ubuntu or another distro work with a Windows machine and record their words and actions. Perhaps get a feel for what's 'intuitive' and what's learned with no small effort.

[malspa]

what's 'intuitive' and what's learned with no small effort

Those are two things that can be quite different for different people, of course. For example, I was kinda surprised when, in reply to the question "What's wrong with panel?" Paddy Landau replied, "Not intuitive." I would disagree, but people see things (and learn things) in different ways.

"Panel" is more consistent with what we see throughout Linux. One small word, easy. The problem I have with "menu bar" is that it's really more than that, you've got other things on the panel besides menus.

Ultimately, I don't think it's all that important what it's "officially" called. I often use Fluxbox, and what I call the "panel" there is called a "toolbar" at fluxbox.org, so I guess that's the "official" word for it, but "panel" is still what rolls off the tongue here. Heck, for Unity, "that stripe at the top of the screen" would be fine with me, if someone wants to call it that. Kinda reminds me of the "what's the difference between a desktop environment and a window manager" debates.

[stalkingwolf]

what about real technical? dohickey or whatchamacallit?

[malspa]

dohickey or whatchamacallit

Either one would be perfect!

[Paqman]

Not intuitive. Someone brand new to computers won't know what you mean.

How many adults actually use Linux as their first machine? Kids will understand whatever you call it.

Speaking plain English is a good idea, there's too much jargon in computing, but relatively simple names for visible objects (rather than abstract ideas or processes) are perfectly ok IMO. People like having names for things.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

Panel

infobar springs to mind!
info-panel anyone?
or does that sound too much like a screen at a airport that is telling you your plain was delayed :lol:

[juanoleso]

How about:

topper
topper bar
screen topper
screen hat
screen cap

So far I liked "top bar" the best, though.

[Hannie]

Any more information available about this Ubuntu Manual team?
Yes, you find all the information here: http://ubuntu-manual.org/
I started the discussion on several mailing lists (ubuntu manual, ubuntu-docs and ubuntu-translators) because I am looking for the best way to describe this "thing" at the top of the screen. As in this thread, there were a lot of reactions. Ubuntu documentation uses "menu bar", because it is thus called in the GUI. If we (authors of documentation) want to give it another name, e.g. top bar/top panel, we should ask the GUI development team first.
Thanks, Paddy, for putting the discussion on the forums as well.

[PatrickD-52761]

I know we hashed this out on the mailing list, but I wanted to throw my two cents worth in.

I'd call it a top panel. Mainly because Unity is an off-shoot of Gnome (whether we like to admit it or not) and Gnome calls it a panel. It's more than a Menu Bar, as it also holds the notification icons (Systray for those coming from Windows). And, if you notice when you click the launcher, it opens up from both the top and the side. Or at least it appears that way after it's opened.

Infobar is good, but it sort of belies the fact that it does more than just convey information. It's not like a taskbar, in fact I would call the launcher on the side the taskbar (as it shows what's open and what's sticky--like the Quick Launch in Windows).

But as was pointed out already, we either have to go with what the Documentation team suggests, or get them to change their minds. Right or wrong, we have to stay consistent with everyone else (in as much as we can), or it will confuse people even more.

Have a great day:)
Patrick.

P.S. If anyone's got change for a penny, that's about all my two cents is really worth. ;-)

[Paddy Landau]

I'd call it a top panel.
That's a great suggestion, just as understandable (I think) as top bar. Thanks.

[Jakin]

Being i used Gnome2 for the longest time, it was just "top panel" and "bottom panel" to me, because obviously you could stick whatever you wanted on the panel, there were no limitation the size, the width, what you wanted to put on it, or the order in which you wanted to put it.