it's boredom, really
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| tuxchick Mar 16, 2010 12:05 PM EDT |
The real reason is "because I got bored with them on the right side" What would be cool (and maybe this is already possible?) is make it user-configurable. (It was possible in Gnome 1.4, you could tweak window controls any way way you wanted.) Something that all these high-toned UI "experts" never seem to take into consideration are speed, convenience, potential for errors, and repetitive strain injuries. Right-handed people are most likely going to be more comfortable with their most-used controls on the right side. Shorter cursor travel is usually more comfortable; don't force the user to scamper all over their desktop, or all over a dialogue, just to click something. Fewer clicks are better; why do so many distros require three clicks to shutdown? What's with this new deal of "System will shutdown in 60 seconds!" after you click the shutdown button? Does it assume incompetent users who needs lots of second chances? Why reward incompetence? I've been making my own custom shutdown icon for years now, once click to turn the darned thing off, since distros are forever incapable of doing this. I yearn to hear design goals of "speed, efficiency, configurable" instead of "shinier and more special effects." Oh well, if Linux is going to catch up to Windows we really do need more inconveniences and meaningless nag screens! |
| gus3 Mar 16, 2010 12:30 PM EDT |
Run "gconf-editor", toggle the /apps/gnome-session/options/logout_prompt key, then exit. They removed the checkbox from gnome-session-properties, but on my system it's been cleared for years. |
| Steven_Rosenber Mar 16, 2010 12:39 PM EDT |
Gotta be honest, having the buttons on left or right doesn't matter to me. My work-supplied box runs XP, my machines run Linux in various states, I do audio production on a Mac, and my wife's main laptop is a Mac, and it's no big deal to have the buttons on one side or the other. That said, I agree with tuxchick - better to let the user easily put them on one side or another. If I remember correctly (and it's quite possible that I don't), the Fvwm2 window manager has the buttons on the left, just like the Mac and purple Ubuntu. I really liked the "kill" menu choice under the left-most button in Fvwm2. |
| tuxchick Mar 16, 2010 1:01 PM EDT |
Of course it doesn't look anything like a Mac. Nope, no Mac obsession at all, the colors and moving the buttons to the left and overall design are purely coincidental:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/ glx-dock is coincidental too: http://www.glx-dock.org/mc_album.php?a=3 |
| tracyanne Mar 16, 2010 5:26 PM EDT |
Quoting:What's with this new deal of "System will shutdown in 60 seconds!" after you click the shutdown button? It gives the shutdown process a more familiar feel for Windows users. @gus, thanks |
| hkwint Mar 16, 2010 5:29 PM EDT |
It's just showcasing the '-t' option of /sbin/shutdown I guess, like 'look how cool this UNIX is! We can shutdown whenever we want!" I'm pretty glad I aliased shuth to 'shutdown -h now'. |
| ABCC Mar 16, 2010 6:34 PM EDT |
I used to have a shuth (and shutr) alias until i found the poweroff/reboot commands... |
| Sander_Marechal Mar 16, 2010 6:55 PM EDT |
Quoting:That said, I agree with tuxchick - better to let the user easily put them on one side or another. You can. Just customise the theme IIRC. There;s also a gconf setting you can change: http://www.everyjoe.com/newlinuxuser/move-your-metacity-butt... |
| gus3 Mar 16, 2010 6:59 PM EDT |
Also, for the record: XFCE's window manager configuration allows any button to be put on either side, configurable via GUI. |
| tracyanne Mar 16, 2010 7:53 PM EDT |
I'm using Emerald, it has configurable buttons as well. |
| mortenalver Mar 17, 2010 3:57 AM EDT |
Quoting:What's with this new deal of "System will shutdown in 60 seconds!" after you click the shutdown button? It's probably a matter of taste, but shutting down is one of the few actions where I think it's appropriate with a warning/confirmation. And if a warning is to be given, I feel this new method gives some improvement. If I'm going to leave the computer anyway I can simply leave, ignoring the confirmation. On the other hand, if I need to turn it off at once, it doesn't help. |
| Sander_Marechal Mar 17, 2010 4:02 AM EDT |
@mortenalver: You can always raise the skinny elephants instead :-) |
| mortenalver Mar 17, 2010 4:07 AM EDT |
Huh? |
| mortenalver Mar 17, 2010 4:43 AM EDT |
Ah... |
| r_a_trip Mar 17, 2010 7:29 AM EDT |
I agree with Tuxchick. There can't be an overwhelming and valid reason to just put these controls on the left. The dominant OS has them on the right. Linux Desktops have them on the right. Why muck about with them? It only fouls up 3 decades of motor memory. 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. It's nice and dandy that placing them left clears up the right side nicely for Mr. Shuttleworth. I'm just wondering what could be so farking important to put on the right side, that I'm supposed to just accept the new and annoying button position. It better be jaw dropping and history changing, because right now I'm pretty annoyed that I'm aiming for the buttons like a noob again, while I could find them almost blindly before. That the menubar is close by doesn't help one bit. On occasion I've worked with OS X and the left placement there also bugs me. For some reason (maybe because I'm a right paw, or because I read left to right) my mouse pointer is on the right of the screen most of the time. Having window controls on the left, just makes me move the mouse more than necessary. I don't like my pointer on the left, as that is where most of my viewable content is. At least OS X has a global menu, so there is no chance of accidentally hitting the menu, when you wanted to manipulate the window buttons. |
| r_a_trip Mar 17, 2010 8:07 AM EDT |
Something just struck me. I was wrecking my brain to come up with something that could be put on the right side of a window, that Canonical thinks is worth riling a lot of users up over by moving control buttons. My first ideas were, per window notification, a search field, an RSS field, a gwibber display, but then my dark side took over... What if Canonical plans on putting an Ad banner there? They are searching ways to make Ubuntu pay for itself. They could expect a nice pay-off from Microsoft Advertising if they sell that space. Why not? They already get payed by Bing (yeah, Yahoo in name) to prop up Bing marketshare numbers. |
| Sander_Marechal Mar 17, 2010 10:50 AM EDT |
Hehehe, you still use buttons for window management. I don't have any buttons on my windows. Heck, I don't have any window decoration whatsoever. |
| gus3 Mar 17, 2010 11:10 AM EDT |
I don't even use my mouse. I just beat my slave until he moves the pointer where I want it. |
| r_a_trip Mar 17, 2010 11:32 AM EDT |
Hehehe, you still use buttons for window management. Oh yes, I like fondling my mouse. In part because I still want to be classified as human by non-techies. If I start to do everything in the CLI and with keyboard shortcuts, I'll be perceived as threatening. Can't have that happen in my role as IT coordinator. :P |
| Steven_Rosenber Mar 17, 2010 2:23 PM EDT |
After KDE spent the entire 3.x cycle trying to look like Windows, now that Ubuntu is trying to look like OS X there's suddenly a problem? The purple is ugly, no doubt, but it's a different kind of ugly than brown. That should count for something. The thing about Ubuntu that I'm always saying is that buy-in from fanboys is important, but not more important than giving prospective users more reasons to make the switch. I do see some fairly sound logic: "Hey Windows users, this is kind of like the Mac, only better, freer and cheaper ... and the same thing to you Mac users." |
| jezuch Mar 17, 2010 3:45 PM EDT |
Quoting:Hehehe, you still use buttons for window management. At work I got a laptop without a mouse. Now, getting a mouse from the logistics department is easy-peasy (as evidenced by my coworker, who ordered so many stuff that it doesn't fit on his desk), but I just didn't feel like it. So for the past 22 months I've had only the laptop's touchpad. (You can compare my workplace to my coworker's: a desk; a laptop; my brain. And no mouse.) Man, I've never learned that many keyboard shortcuts in my life! I guess I should try those decoration-less windows next. |
| hkwint Mar 18, 2010 8:58 AM EDT |
Quoting:Hehehe, you still use buttons for window management. I don't have any buttons on my windows. Heck, I don't have any window decoration whatsoever. Now I finally know why it's called rat poison I think. Should be called 'mouse poison' though. |
| gus3 Mar 18, 2010 9:56 AM EDT |
In Spanish (or at least Castilian), the mouse is called el ratón, "the rat". |
| Sander_Marechal Mar 18, 2010 10:46 AM EDT |
@Hans: That's exactly why that window manager is called Ratpoison :-) I don't use it though. I use Awsome WM. |
| hkwint Mar 18, 2010 2:43 PM EDT |
Hmm, yet another confusion on my part Sander.
I tried xmonad once, but some people over here told 'real men use Flux'. So I tried it for two days, liked the 'window tabbing', but I can't get my keys configured. Fluxbox blah's about unrecognized sequence. There's no graphical thingy to do it for me (exists, but horribly broken for Gentoo). And 'kill' isn't in the Window-context menu. So finally I know why I use WindowMaker instead of Fluxbox! Nonetheless it lead me to discover dmenu in combination with Yeganesh, which makes me quite happy. |
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