CompizDefaults

Compiz Defaults Review for Lucid

Rationale

Default Compiz settings need to be evaluated for:

  1. Appearance; consistency with Ubuntu's default Look and Feel
  2. Behavior; consistent, discoverable keyboard shortcuts.
  3. Performance; disable resource-intensive or unused functionality.

Objectives

Visual Consistency with Theme

Window Switcher

Window Resize

Viewport Switch Preview

Window Shadows

Coherent Keybindings

  • Can we consolidate window movement shortcuts (i.e. Expo, Scale, Show Desktop) on some other modifier key (combination).
  • Proposal: Change "Show Desktop" from Ctrl+Alt+D to Super+D.

  • Scale = Super+W
  • Compiz Accessibility Proposal: People who uses keyboard navigation (like blind users) will find that compiz keybindings conflicts with gnome defaults. For instance the application switcher keybindings is an example of such conflicts bug 507964.

Increase Awareness of Useful Features

Scale

Expo

Show Desktop

  • Behavior is advanced/confusing. Avoid.

Evaluate Use of Workspaces

Currently, Ubuntu Desktop provides two workspaces (2 columns, 1 row). This introduces an overhead of confusion around the concept of workspace while providing the smallest marginal benefit of only one additional workspace. For Lucid, if we continue to support Workspaces, we should increase the default number of workspaces to four, either in a 1x4 array, or a 2x2 array.

Consider:

  • Number and arrangement of workspaces.
  • Appearance of switcher preview.
  • Behavior of window switcher with respect to workspaces

2 rows, 2 columns

  • Poor use of space within workspace switcher in bottom panel.
  • Good use of space in Expo mode.

Improve Animations

Other Improvements

Decrease window snapping strength

Disable Focus Stealing Prevention

Allow Resetting to Defaults

Resetting to Defaults on Upgrade

What is the upgrade experience? Do we backup the user's Compiz settings and replace them with new settings?

Tear-down Beautification

  • low-hanging fruit for improving the logout (of desktop-session) experience is to make compiz (if used as wm) be the last process to be quit, this prevents the sudden visual break of seeing a non-composited desktop when compiz is quit while other apps-windows are still open

User Input

Here users can suggest different animations and settings that would improve the desktop experience.

  • Focus Animation: Dodge (500ms) - try it! It's easier to keep track of where your windows are with this on.

Lucid/CompizDefaults (last edited 2010-02-12 02:10:03 by lawn-128-61-19-179)