And now for something completely different: a list of small improvements Linux (or rather, GNOME) could benefit from.
Linux is pretty awesome. I use it exclusively on all my computers an have converted almost all of my family and many of my friends into Linux users. While Linux is easy-to-use and powerful, it could stand a few improvements.
As always, there is a cautionary disclaimer: these are my views and ideas. Please do not nitpick and try not to offer the same old FOSS answers (do it yourself, you have the code, this stuff works fine, your idea is dumb, etc.) I'm not going to try and go into implementation details. These are just little ideas that could help improve the GNOME desktop (and maybe KDE, XFCE, etc.)
I also know that Blogger has a habit of swallowing up comments. I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do. You should type your comment up in your text editor of choice and keep trying. I want to hear your comments and your ideas.
Universal Shortcut for the opening the Preferences dialog
In almost every app, the preferences dialog is located under Edit > Preferences. I've grown to expect this from GNOME apps and I like that it's always in the same place. If it's not too much to ask, could every app have a standard shortcut to open the Preferences dialog? Just as Control+W closes the current document, Control+O opens a document, and Control+Q closes an app, there should be a standard shortcut for opening the Preferences dialog. Little things like this would go a long way towards making the desktop consistent and easy-to-use.
Lock Screen in GNOME Power Manager
This just seems like the developer accidentally forgot that option.
Using GNOME's Power Mangement tool, my laptop automatically goes into Suspend whenever I close the screen and it's on battery power. However, there is no option to make the laptop simple Lock Screen when the lid is closed and I am on AC power.
I also think that we should be able to set any command we want to be run when the lid closes or the power button is pressed while on AC power or battery power, but I'll settle for just adding the Lock Screen option.
NOTE: If I can, I might try to submit a patch for this. Someone with more experience with the GNOME codebase can do it instead if they would like.
Video tutorials on how to use the desktop
Most computer users do no understand anything on their desktop. They don't understand what minimizing and closing windows mean. Many don't know the difference between their OS, their wordprocessor, their search engine, and their browser.
A set of video tutorials (Apple and Microsoft do similar things) that show the basics of the desktop, showcase nifty features or effects, and clarify computer jargon would hopefully educate a few users and take away that fear of Linux being unfamiliar or difficult to learn.
There could be a YouTube channel or something.
Possible video subjects:
- how to open applications
- show examples of different desktop hardware (tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc.)
- how to connect to the internet (wireless, etc.)
- how to close, minimize, and manage applications and the difference between close and minimize
- what FLOSS is
- how to configure basic things around the desktop (background, theme, etc.)
- how to change one's password (the simple GUI way)
- Virtual desktops
- how to install, remove, upgrade applications, and add repositories (distros would have to take care of this one)
This is just a small list to get ideas churning.
A GTK+ Sidebar widget
This is something I've wanted for a while. One thing that has been severely lacking in GNOME is sidebars. Every app has to write it's own generic sidebar-type widget. It's silly and it's re-inventing the wheel. It's a waste of time. Having a simple GTK+ widget for generic sidebars would make writing apps a lot easier.
A sidebar would be a treeview with categories and items. This sidebar class would take care of the boring things (initalizing treestores and stuff) as well as providing simple, useful functions. Something simple like this would make it quicker and easier to leverage consistent sidebar functionality in GNOME apps without having to write repetitive boilerplate code.
I've begun writing a PyGTK widget for this, but I'd need to read more docs and more code before I attempt writing a C/Vala version.
Sidebars have a lot of potential as UI elements and it would be a shame if they didn't get any love. A GTK+ Sidebar widgets would help standardize sidebars accross applications and also give themeres the ability to specify a different look for sidebars and a different look for regular treeviews.
Revamped Places bar in Nautilus
Leveraging the GTK+ Sidebar widget I just mentioned, it would be nice if all volumes were under a Volumes category and all Network places (and devices located using Zeroconf, etc.) were under a Network category.
Nautilus also has the ability to bookmark places. In a web browser, users have the ability to put a bookmark in a folder and nest that folder in a folder and etc. It would be nice to extend that functionality to Nautilus bookmarks using categories in the sidebar.
Convert to... in the right-click menu in Nautilus
When right-clicking something in Nautilus, one can do a variety of things: delete the item, move it to the trash, open it with a specific application, and view properties. One useful thing to add to that list would be a menu for Converting to a specific filetype.
Converting files in Linux is needlessly difficult, usually involving a wide variety of command line tools and gui apps. A while back, there were a set of scripts on gnome-look.org that provided functionality similar to what I'm describing.
For example, when right-clicking a JPEG, I could convert it to PNG, or when right-clicking a DOC, I could convert it to ODF. This could also be used when selecting multiple files.
Send to in Nautilus should be changed into a menu
Send to (also on the right-click menu) should be changed into a menu of items, rather than a launcher for a dialog.
Categories in the Appearances manager
When I'm scrolling through the list of my backgrounds, everything is all mixed up. I'd like to be able to organize them into categories like Abstract, Nature, Anime, CG, Family, or whatever else I feel like.
The same goes for themes. Where it shows the overview of your themes, I'd like to be able to categorize the Light, Dark, Development, Compact, and otherwise.
View files by access time in Nautilus
Many users are baffled by the file system and can't remember where they saved a document or what they named it. All they remember was the general subject and that they were working on it last Wednesday. Just as we have Icon View, List View, and Compact View in Nautilus, we could have a view called Time View. Something similar to Codename Nemo, but a bit more polished up and simplified.
View files by place accessed
Going along with the previous idea, it would even cooler if we could leverage GNOME's new geolocation features and display files organized by where they were accessed.
Seperate Evolution into multiple applications
Evolution is the email client that can. It does calendaring, schedules, contact management, tasks, newsgroups, emails, and more. Before anyone recommends switching to Thunderbird or Claws Mail, I've tried them. I prefer Evolution.
Evolution also has a slightly confusing UI (admittedly, it's easier to set up and configure than most) and it's widgets seem off compared to the rest of the desktop. For instance, the treeview headers don't match the rest of the desktop and the New button has a strange background. I know this because almost every theme on GNOME-Look (including my own themes) have to apply workarounds.
The UNIX philosophy is "do one thing and do it well" (or so I've heard). Evolution should be split up into multiple apps like so:
- a mail client for handling email, feeds, and newsgroups
- an app for managing contacts (IM contacts, Google contacts, mail contacts, etc. all in one place)
- a calendaring app
- a tasks/GTD app (like Getting Things GNOME!)
Evolution's information is stored in a common backend (evolution-data-server or something), so all we need is new GUIs (maybe not all, but you get my point).
Just because they're separated, that does not mean that the email app cannot leverage contact data or the calendaring app cannot communicate with the tasks app. They can fetch the appropriate data from the central data storage or use D-Bus to get the information. Due to their separation, I would be able to switch out a single app for another and still expect all of them to work or remove one altogether because I do not need that type of functionality (a LiveCD distro might like this).
Metacity borders
The 1 or 2 pixel borders on each side of the window common on most metacity themes is a waste of space and quite annoying. The Metacity themes from my Cool Suite is X-Colors Lite with smaller borders and a few other changes. Try switching between the regular X-Colors Lite and the Cool Breeze/Grass Metacity and you'll see what I mean.
The padding on Metacity borders is unneccesary and does not help the user in anyway (as far as I can tell). Taking these borders away is a very simple thing to do, and not doing it wastes screenspace and perpetuates the big look in GNOME.
New, futuristic/modern theme
While I understand this is silly, looks are a big factor in how GNOME and Linux are perceived. I know people are going to say that themers are already making themes and that I should go make my own, but most of the latest themes just mix widgets from clearlooks, murrina, and aurora with a custom options (not that that's bad). I'm guilty of it too. The pixmap themes are still bad (riddled with bugs and generally ugly or mac/aero ripoffs)
Clearlooks and Murrine are pretty great, and there are some pretty amazing themes built off them. However, I think GNOME needs something new. Something futuristic and cool. We need a theme that's so good that other Operating Systems and DEs will be ripping off the look. Just like we see tons of Mac and Aero ripoffs on GNOME-Look, people should want to imitate and clone this.
We need a sleek, compact theme that makes users feel like they're flying rocket-jet aimed at the future (Ok, that was silly). Something with space and rockets and smooth shiny things. The point of the matters is that we need something new.
KDE 4 has their Appeal and Oxygen projects, and so far they have come out with something that looks pretty good. GNOME needs to be fueled with that same passion for a aesthetically pleasing UI.
GNOME needs a visual presence that is recognizable from thumbnails, screenshots, and when passing by/glancing at someone's screen. Something that screams they are using GNOME and it has to be good. People should look at it and immediately think, "Wow. I want that."
Section in summary: We need a new theme, icon set, metacity, and set of backgrounds. Think: sleek, sexy, modern, futuristic, space, rockets, and compact. Think eyecandy, but better. Usability + Eyecandy + Functionality = Computing heaven
So, if you survived this article...
Please post a comment with your thoughts and ideas. As I said earlier, I know Blogger is buggy with regard to comments, but there is nothing I can do. Type it up in a text editor (so you don't have to retype the comment gets eaten up), and try again. Also, please reddit, digg, tweet, dent, and spread this article around. I wrote this article to get ideas and thoughts churning and flowing in the minds of users and developers.
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