launcher icons are folded when launcher first starts

[Pete Goodall]

Binary package hint: unity

I login using the "Ubuntu Netbook Edition" session, the screen goes white (bug #601088), the launcher appears and the icons are all white (bug #601093) and all but the first icon are folded as if there was not enough room on the launcher. I only have four icons in the launcher, so there is definitely room. After a second or two they unfold and appear normal.

The icons should unfolded if there is plenty of room on the launcher and should appear much more smoothly. At the moment they just appear and it is rather jarring.

$ sudo lspci -kv -s 00:02.1
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
 Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device 022c
 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
 Memory at 56300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
 Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
Package: unity 0.2.14-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-6.9-generic 2.6.35-rc3
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-6-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Jul 2 16:10:43 2010
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Alpha i386 (20100602.2)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

I think this may be deliberate, as part of the subliminal cue to users
that icons *can* fold. I agree the current implementation is jarring (it
all seems to happen haphazardly rather than smoothly). David S should
comment on the desired entry and exit behaviour, and we should make sure
it feels slick, with a flash mockup if needed.

At a minimum, nothing should appear till we can render it fully (no
white placeholder) nor should things feel jaggy or laggy, so we need to
be confident the animation can be smooth if it's specified.

Mark

[Neil J. Patel (njpatel)]

This is a bug caused by a race in the animation system, it's sometimes apparent with Maverick's Clutter but more so with the latest Clutter. The launcher has an initial animation to unfold the icons (a visual cue that they can be folded), however it's just getting stuck sometimes.

[David Siegel (djsiegel-deactivatedaccount)]

The Launcher should never appear folded when there is enough room to show all icons unfolded, even when the session starts. The visual cue that the Launcher icons can fold is that they do fold when necessary; no need to fold them prematurely.

[David Siegel (djsiegel-deactivatedaccount)]

If a stopgap session startup experience is needed, I recommend pre-calculating the eventual static state of the Launcher given the number of tiles it contains, then serially fading those tiles into position from the top. Tiles should fade in at a constant rate (e.g. 20 tiles per second) and not feel jerky, so hide IO wait from the user by sleeping if necessary.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 0.2.22-0ubuntu1

---------------
unity (0.2.22-0ubuntu1) maverick; urgency=low

  * New upstream release.
    - Add support for window control buttons on the panel (LP: #610014)
    - Create a files group model for downloads (LP: #610370)
    - Fix odd representation of (partially) off-screen windows (LP: #594221)
    - Fix selected category doesn't match the displayed one after a place
      switch (LP: #604949)
    - Move places shortcuts to the launcher (LP: #610015)
    - Fix wrong arrow location in place views (LP: #604800)
    - Launcher icons no more folded when launcher first starts (LP: #601107)
  * debian/control:
    - bump clutk build-dep
  * debian/patches/02_disable_expandable_menu.patch,
    debian/patches/03_strip_underscore_on_quicklist.patch,
    debian/patches/04_fix_scroller_focus_issue.patch,
    debian/patches/05_fix_ws_switching.patch:
    - removed
  * debian/patches/02_i18n_launcher.patch:
    - from trunk, support use localized apps name (LP: #612494)
 -- Didier Roche <email address hidden> Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:55:16 +0200

[Hernando Torque (htorque)]

This is not fixed for me.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

confirmed

[Mark Shuttleworth (sabdfl)]

I think there are serious problems with the code responsible for
deciding the layout of the launcher based on the position of the mouse.
This is just one example. David, can you do a review of the work there?

Mark

[zp (zekopeko-deactivatedaccount)]

Same here. Unity 2.28 on Maverick.

[Neil J. Patel (njpatel)]

Gord is going to add some code to guard against this. Basically animation timers aren't completing on startup.

[jyio (inportb)]

As of now, this no longer seems to be a problem. Thanks for the fix!

[Hernando Torque (htorque)]

Is this supposed to be fixed in Maverick? I'm still seeing the icons folded (and white) on session start.

Attaching a short clip showing:

1. Desktop background after GDM
2. White screen (mutter bug 601088)
3. COF button + window buttons
4. Launcher bar with folded white launchers + desktop background
5. Desktop the way I expect it to show up

[Didier Roche (didrocks)]

it's fixed. The icons are folded on purpose at start, the bug was having them sticking as folded at start. The other bugs are already reported. Thanks.

[Hernando Torque (htorque)]

Oh, thanks for clearing this up!