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Locally Integrated Menus Arriving in Ubuntu 14.04

posted by Dopefish on Sunday February 23 2014, @02:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the community-feedback-at-work dept.
kef writes "According to a blog post from the Unity desktop team, Ubuntu 14.04 will move the application menus back into the application windows, starting in Unity 7. Spread improvements, HighDPI support, new decorations, and the usual bug-fixes are also making it into the new LTS release. Is Unity starting to grow up?"
 
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Schafer2 on Sunday February 23 2014, @11:59AM

    by Schafer2 (348) on Sunday February 23 2014, @11:59AM (#5197)

    Unfortunately, the menus are not in their original location, but are integrated into the title bar in the name of screen space conservation. To reduce clutter (and possibly to help you remember you can double click to maximize the window), they are normally hidden.

    Since they are hidden, unless you memorize each application, you do not know where your menu selection is until you hover over the title bar. For me, this turns menu selections into a two step process...rather than going direct to "View", I go up, hover, look at the selections, then move to "View". This is slow.

    The attempts to increase density are laudable. The hiding of high-usage elements within the currently-active application (sliders and menus) go overboard, cutting into daily usability. I use Unity full time as my work desktop, and struggled for two months with overlay scrollbars before finally disabling them (though I still use them on a laptop).

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by githaron on Sunday February 23 2014, @12:57PM

    by githaron (581) on Sunday February 23 2014, @12:57PM (#5220)

    I doubt it will be an issue for your regularly used applications. Unlike the scrollbars, the menu positions are mostly static. Most likely, within a month or less, you will go to the correct spot without even thinking about it.

    • (Score: 1) by Schafer2 on Monday February 24 2014, @02:39AM

      by Schafer2 (348) on Monday February 24 2014, @02:39AM (#5610)

      Thanks -- that's a fair point. If the menu items are there before the mouse click, it might not cause any slowdown at all.

      It also solves a problem with global menus. I'd be doing several things, on and off the computer, and go to perform a menu action without realizing my desired app did not have focus until I hovered over the top panel and there my desired menu wasn't.

      As with most things Ubuntu, I'm grateful for their open source work and distribution (to the point where I contribute upon upgrade). I'm game for trying it their way for several weeks.