Tombuntu

Mark Shuttleworth Introduces Window Indicators

During the controversy about moving the window controls in Ubuntu to the left, Mark Shuttleworth hinted that the newly available space on the right of the window title bar could be put to a new use:

Moving everything to the left opens up the space on the right nicely, and I would like to experiment in 10.10 with some innovative options there.

Now it is clear what he was talking about: Shuttleworth has introduced window indicators (“windicators”) on his blog. Window indicators are like the indicator applet on the panel, but live on the right hand side of every window title bar. They would be used to show state for a particular application, and would be interacted with using an API similar to the one used for the indicator applet.

Here are the example window indicators given:

Shuttleworth also proposes using window indicators and Chrome-inspired temporary status bars to replace traditional status bars. This would save precious vertical screen space on netbook displays. On netbooks, window indicators would also be integrated into the panel like the title bar is in Ubuntu Netbook Edition. Shuttleworth blogged about a global menu bar for netbooks as well.

These changes would be implemented in the next version of Ubuntu, 10.10 “Maverick Meerkat.”

My Thoughts

I’m not convinced that there’s enough benefit in window indicators to justify the problems they would create.

It will be a challenge to get applications to adopt window indicators. Thanks to PulseAudio, it’s easy to show a volume control for every window. But most applications that use sound already have a volume control built in which would have to be patched out for Ubuntu. I can foresee problems with applications such as web browsers which use sound through plugins which show up as separate applications to PulseAudio. But most other window indicators will require even more modifications to applications. If GNOME doesn’t adopt window indicators, then applications will need specific code for Ubuntu and every other distribution.

Currently window title bars are not drawn by the individual applications, but by the window manager or window decorator. Window indicators require applications to interact with their title bars much more. If an application draws it’s own title bar, it’s called “client side window decorations,” which are mentioned in Shuttleworth’s blog post. (Google Chrome has an option to do this in order to draw tabs over the title bar and save screen space.) Giving applications this control could create inconsistent title bars and cause problems for other window managers (just read what Compiz and KWin developers have to say). A better option for implementing window indicators would be to have an API for the application and window manager to communicate over.

Instead of window indicators, I’d like to see something simpler: the menu bar collapsed into a button and moved into this area. Especially in web browsers, there’s been a move away from having a traditional menu bar. Chrome, the Firefox 4 theme mockups, and the latest version of Opera have all moved what used to be the menu bar into different places. Firefox 4 and Opera have added a button to the title bar. Why not standardize on a button in the title bar for the application menu? It would be consistent, reduce clutter on the screen, and save screen space. There are already global menu bar hacks which move the menu bar, so it could be possible to do this without changing applications.

Archived Comments

Shaun

Why couldn’t they have put these on the left and kept the icons on the right?

atis

Sure, that should be an option if you chose to move them back..

I see this quite handy, as you could actually show current process CPU/memory/disk access usage, and see why something’s actually slow.

shcherbak

Long live emerald!
Have not seen windows decoration shipped with
Ubuntu since have started using it. Do you think
compiz will let you put things on right place?

True_Friend

Well, I won’t have this space because after upgrade I would change it to “NORMAL”. :-)

Jason Stapels

I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually like the direction Mark is trying to go. Even on my relatively spacious 15” laptop I find screen real estate to be at a premium.

I think that moving the information that’s traditionally in the “statusbar” area up to the relatively empty titlebar is a good direction to go and that it shouldn’t be dismissed due to the challenges from existing applications.

That said, I would have MUCH preferred this to happen as part of Gnome 3 rather than as an Ubuntu specific direction. Oh, and I completely agree on your menubar comment.

Daeng Bo

It seems to me that Canonical is planning to move even further away from Gnome. Many, many of the proposals in this and last release don’t match the direction Gnome is going.

andrea

Well in ubuntu 10.04 you can not unblacklist a video card in compiz i don’t even use the one i unblacklist but it needs to be done to let my nvidia card work.I don’t know why but it just does i am moving back to ubuntu 9.10 to be able to do this i like ubuntu but if changes like this is going to happen in versions to come then i am going to fedora or something because being able to change stuff like that is why i left windows years ago…..

John Andrews

Hey, do whatever you want. As long as I can move the windows buttons back to the right side of the page and move anything there someplace else, I am fine with it. Better yet, move the windows buttons back to the right and play with the rest of the bar.

After upgrading to 10.04 the first thing I did was move the buttons back to the right. Then I picked a better contrasting background for the buttons. They were lost in the dark.

By the way, it is not good to change things that aren’t broken.

-– John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee

Dr. Steve

Ugh, ugh. ugh. Why do developers feel the need to mess with the title bar?

Okay, any rational and sane people, let’s go over this. The top bar and the menu bar - it takes up a total of what, the system I’m on this morning is running XP, and it uses 28 pixels. 28. What it gives me is a standardized location for every control the program needs and a standardized look for the top of each individual window. There is no clutter.

Adding a bunch of random controls to the top right - that’s clutter. And moving the window controls to the left, that’s also clutter.

Nothing needs to be done to these top bars. I don’t need them to collapse - then things get more confusing. I need to know what is what and where it is defined by those top bars. There’s a billion problems with computers - why does every developer feel the need to focus on the 28 pixels of space at the top of the screen instead?

Remove tabbed browsing. Remove the favourites bar. Remove all of the search engine bars. From the top of the window to the edge of the URL bar is 84 pixels. Now, I’m not using a 7 inch netbook, but should we really be focusing Linux specifically to those devices?

95% of us can spare 84 pixels. The rest can have something implemented.

Bruce

Ugh, ugh. ugh. Why do developers feel the need to mess with the title bar?

Okay, any rational and sane people, let’s go over this. The top bar and the menu bar - it takes up a total of what, the system I’m on this morning is running XP, and it uses 28 pixels. 28. What it gives me is a standardized location for every control the program needs and a standardized look for the top of each individual window. There is no clutter.

Adding a bunch of random controls to the top right - that’s clutter. And moving the window controls to the left, that’s also clutter.

Nothing needs to be done to these top bars. I don’t need them to collapse - then things get more confusing. I need to know what is what and where it is defined by those top bars. There’s a billion problems with computers - why does every developer feel the need to focus on the 28 pixels of space at the top of the screen instead?

Remove tabbed browsing. Remove the favourites bar. Remove all of the search engine bars. From the top of the window to the edge of the URL bar is 84 pixels. Now, I’m not using a 7 inch netbook, but should we really be focusing Linux specifically to those devices?

95% of us can spare 84 pixels. The rest can have something implemented.

Symen

I am currently using Arch Linux, combined with Awesome3 window manager. Awesome3 is a tiling window manager, in contrast with a floating window manager like Gnome, it effectively manages window placement in a very intuïtive manner.

Side effect is the complete removal of the title bar. Awesome3 (and other window managers like it: wmii, xmonad, ratpoison) can be controlled solely by the use of a keyboard.

What does this have to do with this post? Well… It seems Ubuntu does not only just embrace Gnome, but is forking it (or rather Metacity) with specific features. I am seriously doubting whether Ubuntu should be about a ‘custom’ UI, and would advise the Ubuntu team to rather put effort into making transition from other operating systems or Linux distributions as clean, stable and well documented as possible.

In the near future, more and more computer users will be less and less dependant on OS-specific software, as a lot of software is moving to the web. Wine, java, Adobe Air and virtualization are some key elements in making switching to a different OS less painful. A fast web browser like Chromium aids in supplying a fast interface to the web apps many people nowadays rely on (web-based mail, calendars, office suites, etc).

Has Ubuntu lost track of its target audience? Who is the target Ubuntu audience?

For me, Ubuntu has been a stepping stone to a more minimalist distribution, namely Arch Linux. It offers more control over the way you build your system, from the installation on, and it is one of the best documented distributions I have ever seen. The wiki is simply amazing.

For a lot of people, Ubuntu is the go-to distribution for trying out something different than windows. Rather than confusing those users with ‘power’-ui features (will those window indicators really be documented well enough for most new Ubuntu users?), why not try to focus on the information those users need to make them feel at home in one of the best distro’s out there?

Perhaps the team should consider a Ubuntu-flavor especially for users coming from a different OS. Of all distro’s out there, Ubuntu is (imo) currently the most welcoming to those users. Perhaps keep it this way. KISS.

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