Scrap the Desktop

[slimdog360]

It just sits there taking up space. Okay so you can put pretty pictures on it, but thats about it. Computers would be much more efficient if they just had something like opera's speed dial page with tabs to change between the different menu sections (games, office apps, internet stuff etc).Even have a section on the screen where if your mouse is hovering over it you can easily scroll through the tabs (they dont have to be tabs exactly but something similar would be good) with the mouse wheel.

With a little thought into the matter this would produce a much better, much more efficient system could be created.

Who is with me here

[n3tfury]

er..

shortcuts? i use fluxbox and since my "start menu" is where ever my pointer is residing, i bet you i can access and start an app quicker than your proposed method.

[aimran]

I was thinking the same. Why did i have a /home and ~/Desktop for ;P?

They're both full of clutter so isn't it best to merge them?

[kajillin]

It just sits there taking up space.

???? if providing a visual representation of data is taking up space.... then OK


Okay so you can put pretty pictures on it, but thats about it.

umm shortcuts, desklets/screenlets, widgets, ETC... ETC....


Computers would be much more efficient if they just had something like opera's speed dial page with tabs to change between the different menu sections (games, office apps, internet stuff etc).

Menu Bar??????


Even have a section on the screen where if your mouse is hovering over it you can easily scroll through the tabs (they dont have to be tabs exactly but something similar would be good) with the mouse wheel.

Linux is a canvas, paint it however you want.


With a little thought into the matter this would produce a much better, much more efficient system could be created.

........... i dont know how to respond to this........


Who is with me here

Not to many ppl, is my guess


i bet you i can access and start an app quicker than your proposed method

And i bet u he doesnt have a purposed method

This may sound like a **** response but its a fact, what your talking about is changing the way everyone around the planet views a computer screen. Human being need a visual aid to comprehend and understand information better. take a plain visualization and replace it with a complex "learned" visualization then that just increases the amount astrocytes our brain needs, which is why computers where invented and continue to develop. BECAUSE WE DONT WANT TO THINK, WE JUST WANT TO DO. It would be like making a calculator then removing the numpad because it takes up too much space. redundant because we need a numpad to work a calculator!

[mali2297]

Are you thinking of something similar to this?
http://blogs.gnome.org/nigeltao/2006/10/02/creating-passionate-grandmas/

[Paqman]

Sounds a bit like what Symphony OS are trying to do with their Mezzo desktop:

http://www.symphonyos.com/ss/sos-2007btn.jpg

[n3tfury]

Sounds a bit like what Symphony OS are trying to do with their Mezzo desktop:

http://www.symphonyos.com/ss/sos-2007btn.jpg

i wish they'd make their screenshots smaller.

[daynah]

Also, look at screenshots for the custom OS that the Asus EEE has. It's... exactly as you describe. I'm sure you could get a copy of it from an EEE user or online, but who knows if it'll work on your hardware. I doubt it'll support CD drives in particular.

Just note, though, that there's also people moveing AWAY from application centric thinking, most notably with the application Gimmie.

[Erik Trybom]

I have what you propose, more or less. Or rather had, right now I use Fluxbox because it's pretty but I reckon I'll change again soon.

This is a standard KDE Kicker panel which appears on the left side of the screen as soon as I move my mouser cursor there. Everything on that panel is available with just one click - switching between active apps, starting new ones, or logging out. My screen is only 1024x768 pixels so I always run my applications in fullscreen mode.

Check out the screenshot.

[bruce89]

Something a bit like Maemo's home page would be useful.

[~LoKe]

Choice.

[bonzodog]

He ought to try one of the lightweight window managers; no icons, no menu bar, no start menus. No way of rendering a wallpaper without outside applications. The Awesome window manager (as mentioned on one of these threads here) is more or less what he is looking for. It is a desktop of sorts, but more just a plain window manager.

[slimdog360]

Also, look at screenshots for the custom OS that the Asus EEE has. It's... exactly as you describe. I'm sure you could get a copy of it from an EEE user or online, but who knows if it'll work on your hardware. I doubt it'll support CD drives in particular.

Just note, though, that there's also people moving AWAY from application centric thinking, most notably with the application Gimmie.

Hmm... you're right. Perhaps I saw this a while ago and the idea was subconsciously planted in my head. It seems as though people are not seeing this as I do.


Oh and kajillin, you dont know what you are talking about.

[FoxOne]

I just took a look (screen shots) of Symphony OS and I really, really looks good. I personally would need much more from a windows manager, but this would be perfect for my mom who has absolutely no idea what's she's doing, and gets lost after the login screen of Windows XP. This is clean, you click on the button, what you want happens. It's sortof like the TV computers that were offered in the early 2000+ years from Dell and Gateway. I'm going to keep on top of this OS, there might be something worth whiled in Symphony OS.

[thisllub]

It just sits there taking up space. Okay so you can put pretty pictures on it, but thats about it. Computers would be much more efficient if they just had something like opera's speed dial page with tabs to change between the different menu sections (games, office apps, internet stuff etc).Even have a section on the screen where if your mouse is hovering over it you can easily scroll through the tabs (they dont have to be tabs exactly but something similar would be good) with the mouse wheel.

With a little thought into the matter this would produce a much better, much more efficient system could be created.

Who is with me here

e17.

One keystroke for the favourites menu another for the running apps menu.

Can't be beaten.

[~LoKe]

e17.

One keystroke for the favourites menu another for the running apps menu.

Can't be beaten.
How about a tiling window manager like awesome or DWM?

[Tundro Walker]

So basically do away with the "inert" desktop, and instead just have either a "main menu" start up, or preload all apps that might get used and let the user sort of alt+tab through them?

I think others have shown the "main menu" type thing, which looks a lot like a customized Google start page (all the applet windows let you pick what you want to do, and you can just drag drop the different panels around ... really, this is what you do on a desktop anyways, so I don't see how it's so different.)

For the latter that I mentioned, I guess you could scrap the desktop, and just have the computer pre-load all the user's apps on booting, and it'll open the most used app as the "desktop / start" point. EG: for lots of folks, the web-browser would be the most used app, especially if your mother or grandmother was using the comp.

They'd log in, and the web-browser, document writer, media player, etc would all auto-load (or perhaps not autoload, but still show up in the alt-tab menu to let them quickly jump to it.) Since they use the browser the most for web-surfing, it would pop up as the first app seen. To switch tasks, you'd just alt-tab (or some other command, something with mouse I guess), and select from the other "common tasks".

Essentially, you turn a complicated computer into a dumbed-down console, which, ironically, is what I've been saying Microsoft should be doing with MS Office + computers this whole time. They've shown that the X-box is successful...why not attempt something like that for businesses ... an MS Office-box. A user starts it up, and they don't have a "desktop" ... they just have a start screen to pick which app to work with from a limited number (MS Office apps, obviously). They don't have any ability to screw with system settings, other than user-preference things. So, this takes a huge headache off IT's shoulders, where some folks on normal comps like to hop into file manager and mess around with files when they shouldn't. On an MS Console box, users can't mess with files, unless it's through the app they're using, which, for file transfer, would let them move/copy files to other media if needed in some limited fashion.

You basically end up with a computer that's dumbed down to iPod / iPhone level.

[Jhongy]

Was going to mention the Asus eeepc too.

Anyone remember Windows 3(.11). It didn't really have a desktop either (or, at least, no-one used it) -- it had application panels instead.

I remember finding it quite slow and unintuitive to have all programs stored in a single hierachical menu when Win95 came out. I don't know why it has stuck and why so many distros do the same.

[gn2]

Also, look at screenshots for the custom OS that the Asus EEE has. It's... exactly as you describe. I'm sure you could get a copy of it from an EEE user or online, but who knows if it'll work on your hardware. I doubt it'll support CD drives in particular.

Here's a demo: http://honeypothack.com/eee/

Too much of the limited space is wasted with toolbars and tabs, It needs a fair bit of customisation methinks.

I like the right-click for system menu that XFCE has.

[lswest]

and about sectioning tabs for different apps...just use different workspaces and use a shortcut to switch between em, its what i do (sometimes).

[mech7]

If we just stop using a computer and use brainwaves to communicatie and store information.. would be much more efficient :lolflag:

Build it :p

[fatality_uk]

I kind of get what you mean. The "Desktop" hasn't really evolved since what, 72' and those hippies at Parc :D Having said that, it's a very easy shorthand for the majority of users to understand a file system on a PC, i.e. the trash is there, my files go here and my printers there, like a "real" office environment :D

But wouldn't the first page on your tabbed idea become the "desktop"? Icons to do stuff like mail, trash, my docs?

[de_valentin]

i wish they'd make their screenshots smaller.

taking up to much desktopspace?:lolflag:

Seriously though I like the idea I think I had something like that on windows '95
1 toolbar with several tabs, containing different groups of applications.

[Dixon Bainbridge]

Desktops should be a sandbox, a set of tools that allow the user to adjust it to their requirements. If you want bling and toolbars, then you can add them. If you want ultra minimal, then you canhave that too. If you dont want either and wish to go it alone, then there should be tools for deving that built in too.

Basically, a DE shouldnt impose anything on the user.