Global app menu reveal behavour is not intuitive

Bug #781322 reported by Mark Tyrrell
44
This bug affects 9 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Unity
Opinion
Undecided
Unassigned
unity (Ubuntu)
Opinion
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

The app menu just "appears" when you hover over the panel, this makes it hard to know whether or not there is an app menu in the first place. It also means that unless you can remember the entries you first have to hover anywhere on the panel to see the menu, then continue moving your cursor to the menu you were looking for.

On top of this the window title jumps between 2 different positions based on whether or not a window is maximised, but the app menu remains stationary, it feels inconsistent.

The app menu should reveal based on proximity. Please see this mockup:-

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6108272/unity/index.html

(tested in firefox/chrome)

Please note the position of the window title, it should not move to accommodate window controls, that space should simply be reserved (perhaps put the app icon there when not maximised?) Also, the reveal/slide should not happen if the application has no app-menu entries, the title should just remain stationary.

Mark Tyrrell (marktuk)
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
description: updated
Revision history for this message
GonzO (gonzo) wrote :

Is this the correct bug report to state my opinion that the only non-intuitive part of the global-menu app is that it is hidden at all?

The user shouldn't have to "reveal" anything. The menus should be always visible. Same for the launcher, by default (if a user wants it to hide or auto-hide, they should be made to specify such, but I have a feeling that's another defect).

Revision history for this message
slmb (fqa101) wrote :

I prefer to delete Global
There are a lot of options are Global

Revision history for this message
Mark Tyrrell (marktuk) wrote :

@GonzO I agree, I think the problem lies in inconsistent window title lengths, and the knock on effect that has on the placement of the global menu. For example, the placement of the 'File' menu would be in a different place on the panel for every single app. For some the change in placement would be tiny, but some for some apps it could be a massive relocation just to fit the window title in.

Perhaps coupled to my proposed solution there could be an option to 'pin' the global menu with a small button so that it stays visible until it's unpinned. This way the user could decide whether they want a cleaner panel with just window titles always visible, or a more productivity driven panel with the app-menu always visible.

Revision history for this message
Mark Tyrrell (marktuk) wrote :

Here's a mockup with the firefox menus, I also refined the proximity and made the activation area smaller:-

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6108272/unity/firefox.html

The activation area is the same height as the panel so the whole thing feels a bit smoother, it's also less likely to trigger if you were say using the url bar on firefox when maximised.

Revision history for this message
Bernhard (b.a.koenig) wrote :

Gonzo, the most prominent bug in this area is probly bug 701294.

Revision history for this message
Michael Dugger (dmugger) wrote :

I like this idea, but I would prefer to have the option for "OSX like" behavior to just leave the bar always on.

Changed in unity:
status: New → Opinion
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Opinion
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