Slab
The Original Email
In a recent news article about the launch of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 later this month, I noticed that they are trying to promote graphical accessibility as the biggest feature of SLED 10. I'm starting to think that for Edgy, we should on a layout and usability perspective, think about how we arrange things, add more simpler tools for getting at stuff, and other stuff.
Although the article described "graphical accessibility" as the whole "Compiz and XGL requires less system resources than Windows Vista's Glass mode", my definition is how easy to use a desktop is to use. I think this, might be a good addition to our default desktop:
And this, is the topic of this particular thread on the Ubuntu Forums: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=208131
Codenamed Slab, it's one of the dirty little secrets of SLED, and since it's easily obtained from Gnome CVS (under the slab module), we might just want to adapt it for Ubuntu. Basically, it's a suite of 3 tools, firstly the new "main menu" applet, which can be customized with favorite applications for one click access, can list recently used applications, and recently opened documents!
Then, we have Control Center and Application Browser, a nice simple and easy to use interface which uses our existing menu system to present all options for preferences and applications right in front of you with nice big icons! The 2 sections are also searchable with this neat little search box, automatically narrowing down options to what you want based off title and descriptions!
So, how do you like my idea? I love Slab to death, it's easily one of the best things you can ever have on a desktop, just do a few modifications and it will be all set for primetime!
Screenshots
As seen on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
Application Browser
attachment:appbrowser.png
Control Center
attachment:controlcenter.png
Main Menu
attachment:mainmenu.png
Required Changes
Of course, we would have to change some things to main-menu and control-center to make it work and intergrate better with Ubuntu:
Interface Adjustments
We could change it so that the applet displays the word "Menu" instead of "Computer" and change it to use distributor-logo as the icon instead of computer.
Package Managment Intergration
By default, it intergrates with XenSource, SLED 10's new RPM managment system, offering options to upgrade or remove the application in the right click menu.
We would have to make a decision, should the functionality be removed, or we could make it so that it intergrates automatically with our current "Add/Remove Programs" tool? I am kinda crossed between both actually...
Control Center and Application Browser Improvements
We might want to look into this particular mod of control-center: