Application name should not be shortened in AppMenu on larger panels

[Kevin Jadin]

- Latest Natty x64
- 15" laptop screen

Here is the text as shown on the panel when Calculator is focused:

- when mouse is not over the panel : (Application name only)
Calculator
- when mouse is over the panel : (Application name + Menu entries)
Calculat[fade out] Calculator Mode Help

Here, the fade out is unnecessary because the whole Application name + Menu entries only represents 10% of the panel size. It is a waste of space to always shorten the Application name.
This behaviour should of course happen when there is not enough space left on the panel (might be needed more often on netbooks for example, but not on desktops/laptops with larger screens).

[Paul Sladen (sladen)]

Hello Kevin: thank you for both of your bug reports. I believe the arguments for fading out the Application title in the Top Bar is so that it is the same width as the window manager's close, minimise, maximise buttons. Being the same width, and therefore same offset means that the menus items themselves always remain in a the same position afterwards.

Part of the advantage of a menu system (regardless of whether it is hidden or not) is that the location of the items are consistent and predictable to the user. If the Menus were to be placed after the application title they would move left or right depending on the length of the application name or the currently open document. The "File" menu would end up being different positions in different applications.

This is likely to be a Won't Fix (at least for this cycle) unless there's a better idea of what could be done.

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

As Paul said, we prioritize keeping the menu's in the same position over
exposing the full app name when the menus are displayed.

 status opinion

Mark