Launching the Revolution: Kickoff's redesign ideas
The launcher menu paradox has almost been around ever since graphical environments were created. They provided a simple method through which users could access their applications pertaining to a particular task. Before the start menu, users had a folder view, generally, with the applications in a list. Earlier environments had to omnipresent shell which launched programs by just typing the name.
Later, along came Linux and graphical environments for it. Some of them have kept the basic idea of a start menu, like the one on Windows 95. KDE did it, Gnome did it and many others, even the high end ones like Enlightenment, did it. It should be admitted though that this is a very clever idea to work with. It is fast, simple, and very visually engaging. However, this launching model by todays standards seems outdated. At least, this is something that frustrates me every now and then because it is so common. It is time for a revolution, a change.
The first thing that we need to do in order to change the start menu is to understand it. I am sure that a lot of people have decided that it is just OK to imitate what others have done. This is not a bad thing, the launcher menu is something that's very clever already, but I want to see innovation. It is time to rethink the way we work with a launcher menu. It is important to remember that these ideas have developed in great length overtime and I do not intend to cover 100% of what has been done, but rather, focus on the things that saw the day of light. I will point out their strengths and weaknesses to ultimately work with the strengths to come up with the best possible idea about how to improve the start menu for openSUSE.
This is the main reason why I have decided to split this study into 4 parts. It is such a daunting task that as I was doing my research, I realized that it will take very long to work something out that is useful and better than what we already have available for Linux.
The first part will be an analysis of the many ideas and projects that launched "start menus." the second part will cover the good aspects developed for start menus; the third article will talk about the usability and design problems and finally I will conclude with a proposal for a launch menu. This will be my idea on what openSUSE should do with their Kickoff menu.
So, wait for this first article to come out. It will be soon.
Thank you for your support.
Anditosan
Later, along came Linux and graphical environments for it. Some of them have kept the basic idea of a start menu, like the one on Windows 95. KDE did it, Gnome did it and many others, even the high end ones like Enlightenment, did it. It should be admitted though that this is a very clever idea to work with. It is fast, simple, and very visually engaging. However, this launching model by todays standards seems outdated. At least, this is something that frustrates me every now and then because it is so common. It is time for a revolution, a change.
The first thing that we need to do in order to change the start menu is to understand it. I am sure that a lot of people have decided that it is just OK to imitate what others have done. This is not a bad thing, the launcher menu is something that's very clever already, but I want to see innovation. It is time to rethink the way we work with a launcher menu. It is important to remember that these ideas have developed in great length overtime and I do not intend to cover 100% of what has been done, but rather, focus on the things that saw the day of light. I will point out their strengths and weaknesses to ultimately work with the strengths to come up with the best possible idea about how to improve the start menu for openSUSE.
This is the main reason why I have decided to split this study into 4 parts. It is such a daunting task that as I was doing my research, I realized that it will take very long to work something out that is useful and better than what we already have available for Linux.
The first part will be an analysis of the many ideas and projects that launched "start menus." the second part will cover the good aspects developed for start menus; the third article will talk about the usability and design problems and finally I will conclude with a proposal for a launch menu. This will be my idea on what openSUSE should do with their Kickoff menu.
So, wait for this first article to come out. It will be soon.
Thank you for your support.
Anditosan
Written by Anditosan
19 comments:
Stop calling it a "start" menu, dude. Even MS dropped this name, because it was considered plain stupid by everyone to have to click start in order to shut down...
Well, what should I call it? If I call it "launcher" then I think of gnome-do and the such. If I call it dock, then it;s like the Mac dock. So?
Suggestions?
Call it "Go" ;-)
... to sleep
... KO (shutdown without questions)
... to "places" (Documents, /media ...)
I like that idea a lot actually. Why not call it "go"? It gives the idea of it being a place of encounter between applications, places and documents. :D
@L4Linux
Since when Microsoft dropped the "start" menu name?
I have no clue. I thought it retained the name. But it doesn't matter I guess. I think I will call it start menu anyways, just for the purposes of the posting.
Great. I'm looking forward to your results. Are you taking Lancelot, kRunner and the KDE "Search and Launch" activity also into account?
"Go" is nice, it's short, it's positive, it moves forward (therefore I suggested it in the first place).
As for the "Structure" of a new menu like this I have the following ideas:
I at all possible; break with the paradigm that follows the list-follows-list-follows-list in a 90° degree centigrade manner. It's not the way people move their hands (robots move like that).
I contemplate about a tree-like structure where you have branches, (e.g. Places, Network, Programs, ...) which themselves again may have branches (specific folders, or program categories) and leafs (programs, folders, or even documents). Think of it like a simple phylogenetic tree (http://www.biosino.org/mirror/www.uni-mainz.de/~cfrosch/bc4s/students/project/phyltrans1.gif) or even better the logo of KDE Nepomuk (http://techbase.kde.org/File:Nepomuk_logo_big.png) where the branches (or bubbles) are colored and named to indicate which function you're going to adress (Places, Programs ...).
So you could march along the branches quickly (without clicking, just mouse-over to expand them or better have them reasonably expanded already (in a one step ahed manner, always showing what can be assessed two steps ahed from the current position) or other defined "steps") to get where you want and do a final click (on a program, folder, document or activity). All this not trying to behave like a robot.
One "leaf" that sprouts from the stem (i.e. relatively early from the root) may be a search field for programs or items of the tree (in which case only those branches stay open which match the query). Alternatively, you may right click on any position to asses the search field and reduce the tree to what matches.
In one or more places, the user may define branches and sub-branches at will (i.e. linking programs and places and documents together and name the branch "project 1" for example. In this way you can quickly link together everything you need for the project without having to use the file manager, the program menu, the browser bookmarks ... Ideally, items may be added by drag and drop.
Please do make use of the screen size available. The most annoying "feature" of KDE kickoff is that I have a 22 inch monitor but I navigate back and forth and around in a tiny little box ... what a waste ... (I use the Tasty menu under KDE3.x and Lancelot or the classic menu under KDE4).
Plugins? Why not add plugins for media control, browser bookmarks, twitter, or newsfeed or anything people would like to see and find useful in "Go". I think that much of the market share of Firefox is due to his ability to be your very own browser by extnding it with the functions you think should be within a browser. Why not having plugins in a start menu?
Unluckily, I have no progamming capabilites (and a full-time job and two kids ...).
"Go" is nice, it's short, it's positive, it moves forward (therefore I suggested it in the first place).
As for the "Structure" of a new menu like this I have the following ideas:
I at all possible; break with the paradigm that follows the list-follows-list-follows-list in a 90° degree centigrade manner. It's not the way people move their hands (robots move like that).
I contemplate about a tree-like structure where you have branches, (e.g. Places, Network, Programs, ...) which themselves again may have branches (specific folders, or program categories) and leafs (programs, folders, or even documents). Think of it like a simple phylogenetic tree (http://www.biosino.org/mirror/www.uni-mainz.de/~cfrosch/bc4s/students/project/phyltrans1.gif) or even better the logo of KDE Nepomuk (http://techbase.kde.org/File:Nepomuk_logo_big.png) where the branches (or bubbles) are colored and named to indicate which function you're going to adress (Places, Programs ...).
So you could march along the branches quickly (without clicking, just mouse-over to expand them or better have them reasonably expanded already (in a one step ahed manner, always showing what can be assessed two steps ahed from the current position) or other defined "steps") to get where you want and do a final click (on a program, folder, document or activity). All this not trying to behave like a robot.
One "leaf" that sprouts from the stem (i.e. relatively early from the root) may be a search field for programs or items of the tree (in which case only those branches stay open which match the query). Alternatively, you may right click on any position to asses the search field and reduce the tree to what matches.
In one or more places, the user may define branches and sub-branches at will (i.e. linking programs and places and documents together and name the branch "project 1" for example. In this way you can quickly link together everything you need for the project without having to use the file manager, the program menu, the browser bookmarks ... Ideally, items may be added by drag and drop.
Please do make use of the screen size available. The most annoying "feature" of KDE kickoff is that I have a 22 inch monitor but I navigate back and forth and around in a tiny little box ... what a waste ... (I use the Tasty menu under KDE3.x and Lancelot or the classic menu under KDE4).
Plugins? Why not add plugins for media control, browser bookmarks, twitter, or newsfeed or anything people would like to see and find useful in "Go". I think that much of the market share of Firefox is due to his ability to be your very own browser by extnding it with the functions you think should be within a browser. Why not having plugins in a start menu?
Unluckily, I have no progamming capabilites (and a full-time job and two kids ...).
"Go" is nice, it's short, it's positive, it moves forward (therefore I suggested it in the first place).
As for the "Structure" of a new menu like this I have the following ideas:
I at all possible; break with the paradigm that follows the list-follows-list-follows-list in a 90° degree centigrade manner. It's not the way people move their hands (robots move like that).
I contemplate about a tree-like structure where you have branches, (e.g. Places, Network, Programs, ...) which themselves again may have branches (specific folders, or program categories) and leafs (programs, folders, or even documents). Think of it like a simple phylogenetic tree (http://www.biosino.org/mirror/www.uni-mainz.de/~cfrosch/bc4s/students/project/phyltrans1.gif) or even better the logo of KDE Nepomuk (http://techbase.kde.org/File:Nepomuk_logo_big.png) where the branches (or bubbles) are colored and named to indicate which function you're going to adress (Places, Programs ...).
So you could march along the branches quickly (without clicking, just mouse-over to expand them or better have them reasonably expanded already (in a one step ahed manner, always showing what can be assessed two steps ahed from the current position) or other defined "steps") to get where you want and do a final click (on a program, folder, document or activity). All this not trying to behave like a robot.
One "leaf" that sprouts from the stem (i.e. relatively early from the root) may be a search field for programs or items of the tree (in which case only those branches stay open which match the query). Alternatively, you may right click on any position to asses the search field and reduce the tree to what matches.
In one or more places, the user may define branches and sub-branches at will (i.e. linking programs and places and documents together and name the branch "project 1" for example. In this way you can quickly link together everything you need for the project without having to use the file manager, the program menu, the browser bookmarks ... Ideally, items may be added by drag and drop.
... follow-up
Please do make use of the screen size available. The most annoying "feature" of KDE kickoff is that I have a 22 inch monitor but I navigate back and forth and around in a tiny little box ... what a waste ... (I use the Tasty menu under KDE3.x and Lancelot or the classic menu under KDE4).
Plugins? Why not add plugins for media control, browser bookmarks, twitter, or newsfeed or anything people would like to see and find useful in "Go". I think that much of the market share of Firefox is due to his ability to be your very own browser by extnding it with the functions you think should be within a browser. Why not having plugins in a start menu?
Unluckily, I have no progamming capabilites (and a full-time job and two kids ...).
Best,
Benjamin
oops ... got error messages the first two times. Sorry, for triple posting ... :-|
Great to hear it's being looked at.
I've always called it the boring "Main Menu", but "Kickoff Menu" doesn't sound too bad.
I liked the idea of having it horizontally set so that wide-screens can see the list of applications in a category (Like Gimp, Krita, etc.) when the category (like Graphics) is selected while smaller screens have it slide (much like it does now).
benq,you're killing the comment section hahaha. Thanks for the ideas, I'll be sure to keep them in mind.
you should also rename trash bin to recycling bin
"Go" is nice, "GoTo" is nicer, more meaningful and sounds more complete.
I still believe and prefer the classic hierarchical menu. It is simple, fast, well organized and doesn't take too much space to get to the deepest levels. Sure, it could take some improvements to make it nicer and more functional, I am sure many could come up with pretty good ideas. But my point is, we need to keep it as a basis. Also, the of option selecting a different menu (as in KDE) should always be available.
Agreed. I am sure that the conclusion that I arrive to will not be a definite answer but just a pretty good guess on what could be done to renew the menu.
the first thing everybody i know do with Kickoff is... change it to the classic menu...
A also know some people who don't use KDE because it have the Kickoff menu.
So please do something useful and usable.
It's the KMenu, just call that way.
今年のクリスマスも後少しですね。グリー内でもクリスマスに備えて異性と交流を持つコミュニティが活発で、自分も今年のクリスマスにお陰で間に合いました！！みなさんもイブを一人で過ごさなくても良いように、グリーで異性をGETしよう
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