Been a while since I last updated, so here are a few random things I miss on the Ubuntu/GNOME desktop:
- Top menu bar. C’mon, the jury is not out on the best location for the menu bar anymore. It’s been settled for all but the most die-hard users of operating systems that get it wrong (which is, unfortunately, most operating systems). At least offer a top menu bar as an option. I don’t think this will ever happen.
- Custom date formats. I hate dd/mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy, and so on. I want yyyy-mm-dd, which is actually the Canadian standard (even if it is infrequently used). I actually found several alleged solutions to this via google, but ultimately none of them actually worked.
- Alt-tabbing while dragging. I can alt-tab between applications, and I can drag between applications, but I can’t alt-tab while dragging. This is something both Mac OS X and Windows have solved.
- Stale forks. For idealistic/political reasons, up-to-date versions of some software are quite hard to install under Linux. Firefox and Thunderbird are great example of this.
- Expose. I know there’s a hack to add it, but I’m looking for something more seamless. I imagine it’ll be in a future version.
Mac users love their top menu bar. While I’ve dabbled in Mac-land, I’ve *never* found it especially helpful (nor have I found it annoying). While research shows that it is efficient, that research was conducted in the 80s, where many aspects (both social and technical) have changed.
Is my anecdotal agnosticism proof? Of course not. But, I don’t think it’s the no-brainer the Mac heads have insisted it is. Perhaps as a Mac user you could consider that your affection for the top-menu might just be that you’re used to it?
I’ve found (again anecdotal) that I can be productive with nearly any UI setup, some more than most even. My best measure is to try, wait until I’ve absorbed, measure, rinse, and repeat as many times as possible. I’ve tried many interface styles and layouts, and I continue to try what I’ve already discared (in case I missed something). And I have missed things, repeatedly. That’s part of being human I guess, and a reminder for me to keep an open mind.
Windows ain’t half bad, given a few basic habits. Most Unix window managers can be good too. Life without a window manager can be quite productive (screen anyone?) I can even remember being productive on my Atari 800 (and 1040ST). And on a Mac, with all of it’s smooth, shiny, bouncy things, I have found productivity.
But really, in the end, the greatest limitation of my own productivity has always been me. Give me a sheet of paper, a good day, and a great idea, and I can create pretty much anything.
The menu bar is definitely a slam dunk; it becomes muscle memory. The only better alternative is to have a full menu bar available as a radial on a right click.