Look and feel of the Software Center is not modernized

[Jeb E.]

The software center in Ubuntu feels in particular far outdated, more so than the rest of the OS, and it has gotten to a point where I feel as if standard quality control procedures in the Ubuntu development team overlook one of the main aspects of the OS that helped shape Ubuntu to the operating system it is today anyways.
The software center is currently a mess. Items feel out of place, when installing an app the Software Center will about 1/2 the time not even show status of an install or say one thing that has been installed is not installed... Just plain confusing and turns the average Joe or Jane away from even wanting to use the thing.
This needs to change.

There are several reasons to keep the look and feel of any application for that matter "modernized":
*Having a modern UI keeps bringing users back for more with an easy-to use, pleasant experience that "just works".
*A modern UI needs a system of checks and balances in order to keep the above stable and fluid, something that if forced upon Ubuntu will overall help the entire project along with keeping things aesthetically pleasing.
*Everyone wants to feel equal, no matter the economic or geographic situation. People don't want to feel "2nd class"... Part of the original Ubuntu philosophy. We are all one.
*A modern UI will not get technical about apps and will only show app preview content meant to match the resolution of the screen and limit users from installing apps for unsupported hardware. This can save bandwidth, processing power, and most importantly RAM and overall GUI stability.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: software-center 13.10-0ubuntu4.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-28.38-lowlatency 3.16.7-ckt1
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-28-lowlatency x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.14.7-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Mon Jan 12 11:53:17 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-11-08 (65 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.10 "Utopic Unicorn" - Release amd64 (20141022.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: software-center
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

Material Design is an excellent open-source user interface algorithmic theory to how an OS should interact with the user and more importantly, how things should look on the GUI frontend with color palettes and item placement requirements.
Apps, even in Android, based on Material Design tend to be extremely minimal yet look outstanding, pleasing both the eye and the hardware.

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

Another great example of a modernized and quality-controlled user interface is going to be Apple's iOS Human Interface Guidelines. In iOS, apps must be easily usable for the most part and match the system theme for a "Unified" experience... A "Unified" experience in such a way that apps appear to be integrated into the OS even when not. This makes learning curves a snap for users and provides everyone is an elegant flat design, something even Google has been inspired by with the release of Android 5.0 "Lollipop" and the new design algorithms going with both.

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

App Store Review Guidelines

[Jeb E. (jebeld17)]

An Introduction to Material Design
[EDIT: Attachment fixed]

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Jeb, thanks for this report. Unfortunately it is not useful for improving the software, because it covers multiple issues, and none of them specifically. There is no possible code change that anyone could plan, make, or merge with the serious thought that "oh, this will fix bug 1409807".

If you can identify specific items in the UI that "feel out of place", please report each type of item as a separate bug, with a screenshot.

If there is a case where USC does "not even show status of an install", please report that bug, with steps to reproduce the problem.

If there is a case where USC says "one thing that has been installed is not installed", please report that bug, with steps to reproduce the problem.

If by "checks and balances" you have anything specific in mind, please report that.

Finally, warning users about installing software on unsupported hardware is already implemented. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#system-requirements> It is up to individual packages to specify those requirements. If any package with unusual requirements does not do this, please report a bug on the package.