Following comments on my previous entry I have mocked up the below image. I am so not a designer it’s untrue….
Click for full size
- Top row = workspaces. The green N will open a new workspace, with only a desktop tab in the third row. The red X closes the currently selected workspace.
- Middle row = launcher. The ‘Start’ button opens up a menu on the third row (more on that later). The text box in the middle allows you to type in (and autocomplete) application names which launch in new tabs. The icon bar at the end is for icon application launchers.
- Third row = apps. The desktop tab works much like the ‘clear desktop’ option that most DEs have already. The others work like a mix between the taskbar (where the apps sit in Windows/other DE) and the title bar (it should include maximise, minimise and close icons, but I forgot to add them in). N and X work like in the top row; X will close an app, N will open a new tab to launch from (not sure if this is necessary, as there are already 3 ways to do this…..).
- When you click start, the third row is replaced with a series of drop-down menus (I’m sure it would slide across in a nice animated way).
Looking at this now, I guess you could probably acheive most of this with an existing window manager. The main difference, I reckon, is that the “desktop” is treated like any other window/application – clicking on it doesn’t minimise everything else, it merely brings the ‘desktop’ to the front of the stack, making your desktop icons ‘n’ stuff more accessible, and thus actually useful.
Aw hell – it was just a random thought……
mrBen
There’s always the Window’s shortcut Show Desktop which sits in the quick launch bar. One click and all windows are minimised, revealing your desktop in all it’s glory (in my case a tasteful pic of a Shadow over the surface of Mars). Another click and all your windows are restored.
My experience of the show desktop button has always been less than satisfactory, although maybe I’m just imagining it…..
My real struggle has always been that the desktop is pretty much useless, because it’s always hidden behind other stuff. There’s an idea in my head somewhere – I’m not sure this is it, though…..
So, while it looks like tabs it’s not, it’s still seperate windows, etc? Else does everything have to be maximised?
-Dx
There may be one problem with your design, that demonstrated by the mile high menu bar concept
Your design requires precise mouse control to carry out actions performed regularly, especially to hit the start button. I think any new desktop design will have to take factors like these into account. For example, it could simple things like removing the clock from sitting in the corner of the screen. There are 5 really easy positions to hit an the screen, the current position of the mouse and the four corners, so why waste one on the clock? How often do you have to click on the clock?