Alex Graveley introduced the Gimmie user interface and panel for GNOME a few days ago. In it, Alex is grouping the most used parts of a modern UI, e.g. Documents, Applications, People, and Computer (network connections go under it too). For info, videos, and shots check here.
Get to Know Gimmie
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Looks nice and usable. I could see Ubuntu Edgy Eft using this.
Only if they postpone until gnome 3.0
Why?
rehdon
Wow, this is actually kind of neat. I’m sure some will call it a rip-off of dock though.
There is definitely room for improvement, but it’s a nice start and some good base ideas. I can’t wait to see the direction it moves in.
You are quite prophetic concerning the dock-rip-off comments. I wouldn’t have thought to make the comparison, because they are obviously different interfaces with different functionality. However, I guess you can’t underestimate peoples’ ability to think two interface elements are related just because they are roughly the same size, shape, and location on the screen.
I love all of the innovation happening on the Linux desktop, whether it be mainstream usability work like SLED 10 or aggressive new interface concepts such as SymphonyOS or even KDE Plasma. There’s a lot of solid infrastructure to build on, and we’re really starting to see it start to pay off. It’s not at all unreasonable for a single developer to take a concept and turn it into a somewhat usable prototype, and then the magic of OSS helps it the rest of the way.
Stuff like this is a direct counterexample to anyone that claims that “Linux” isn’t innovative and is simply trying to “rip-off” Windows or Mac OSX.
What’s with all the dock clones? I’d rather see something like rox app dirs and an app folder integrated into gnome; maybe then people might stop reinventing the wheel, although it’s probably not very likely.
Did you even look at it? It doesn’t resemble dock in the least.
If by “dock clone” you mean little panel at the bottom that you can use to launch applications from, then;
OMG OS X RIPPED OFF CDE!@#@!#
Did you even look at it? It doesn’t resemble dock in the least.
I was speaking in general. This is no better than the current gnome-panel design-wise, they just crammed more stuff into it.
If by “dock clone” you mean little panel at the bottom that you can use to launch applications from, then;
Yes, that’s what I mean. It’s not even a good design in the first place–why bother cloning it?
OMG OS X RIPPED OFF CDE!@#@!#
Yup. It also explains why the dock is so useless.
I was speaking in general. This is no better than the current gnome-panel design-wise, they just crammed more stuff into it.
If you had bothered to actually try it, or even simply had taken the time to take a look at the gimmie homepage, you wouldn’t say this. It actually works quite differently. Try it, it’s fun.
Yes, that’s what I mean. It’s not even a good design in the first place–why bother cloning it?
No matter how often you repeat it, this is in no way a clone of the dock. Either inform yourself, or don’t bother us with further useless comments. Thanks.
If you had bothered to actually try it, or even simply had taken the time to take a look at the gimmie homepage, you wouldn’t say this. It actually works quite differently. Try it, it’s fun.
I have looked at it.
No matter how often you repeat it, this is in no way a clone of the dock. Either inform yourself, or don’t bother us with further useless comments. Thanks.
It most certainly is a dock clone; the fact that it has some features not present in the OS X dock doesn’t somehow make this false. Your logic is actually fairly funny, but that’s starting to get off topic.
It most certainly is a dock clone; the fact that it has some features not present in the OS X dock doesn’t somehow make this false. Your logic is actually fairly funny, but that’s starting to get off topic.
It most certainly isn’t. And I never claimed it isn’t because it offers some things that the OSX dock doesn’t offer, but I pointed out that it works fundamentally different.
Again, you would be aware of this if you had actually taken a closer look instead of mindlessly trolling osnews.
Look like, it’s somewhat a clone. Functionality wise, it is not. It accomplishes some of the same things, but approaches it differently and handles differently.
Sorry, but a clone has to be either an exact copy or close. This is not.
This isn’t about the specific implementation of how things are displayed, it’s about presenting people, documents and applications as first class objects in a sensible way. If you have a better idea on how to actually display these objects, I’d love to see it. But “dock clone” sounds as reasonable to me as “panel clone”.
What really matters is how it works, not what it looks like.
This isn’t about the specific implementation of how things are displayed, it’s about presenting people, documents and applications as first class objects in a sensible way.
A commendable goal. I’m all for this, but the dock-style interface isn’t the best way to acheive this.
What really matters is how it works, not what it looks like.
Actually, the interface matters immensely. Interfaces are what the user interacts with; in fact, this is why good, solid interfaces are important, and why docks/panels are bad.
Then how would you do it? (And why haven’t you yet?
)
I usually agree with your opinion about user interfaces, but I don’t agree with your fixation on the “one-true-way”. Gimmie is new in some aspects and it deserves at least a chance, not to be shot down just because it looks like a dock and you believe that all docks are evil in principle.
My main concern with Gimmie isn’t so much the concept itself but whether it will be possible to make it work reliably in the future. For example (and most importantly), most of the documents I open do not actually appear as documents. I wonder if there can be a simple, generic solution for this.
There can: You work the idea of a document into something as top-level as X11 windowing, then you work it into gtk, qt and others, and then you work it into applications.
There are other ways to do it, but that’s what appears to me first when I imagine how I’d want it done. I’d hate to see it just worked into Gnome libs.
As you can see, it’d be a lot of work, but I’d bet it’d be done eventually and be worth the trouble.
Yes, that would be the not-so-simple solution.
I’m just worried that Gimmie might not be extremely useful to me before something like this is done. Then again, I’m trying it again now and it works pretty well. At least Gaim chats are displayed properly now (that didn’t work for me before).
It is very pretty to see the Human trash icon in it’s full size.
Unfortunately most application icons are not so pretty, since they are just the small window title version being scaled up. Which is another thing that might not be trivial to fix.
I think this is something that should be fundamentally changed too. Simply letting applications set svg icons as their window icon would be awesome…
Maybe you can and I missed it. Usually if you use an oversized png you’re ok (although it messes up windowmaker), like 64×64 or 48×48.
I usually agree with your opinion about user interfaces, but I don’t agree with your fixation on the “one-true-way”. Gimmie is new in some aspects and it deserves at least a chance, not to be shot down just because it looks like a dock and you believe that all docks are evil in principle.
Oh, I’m not trying to dismiss it completely just because it’s a dock. The idea behind it is great, I’m just pointing out that the interface could be better. In any event, here’s how I’m planning on implementing them:
Applications are nothing more than directories. The default graphical apps are in /Applications, and user-level apps and settings are in ~/Applications, which is then mounted over /Applications using unionfs (http://www.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu/project-unionfs.html).
Documents are already easy enough to get to with a decent hierarchy and file manager.
People are simply files in a folder (~/People ?). A daemon in the background updates the folder with who’s online, “opening” a person file opens up a chat window if they’re online. To send an email, create an email document, drag the person file into the “To:” field, and click “send.”
Basically, the idea is to merge as many item-based things into the filesystem as possible. This not only cuts down on the amount of applications you have to write (an extensible file manager is all you need), it also means there’s a consistent interface for working with lists of objects.
Fair enough, but how would this interfere with what Gimmie is doing? Gimmie presents an alternative search interface to objects as well as displaying currently opened objects (and/or “favourite” objects). It also acts as a panel replacement by holding trash, time and workspace switchers. The actual placement of those is certainly debatable, but you probably want to have them at some place or another anyway.
I think you articulated the problem I have with your proposed design, but I’m not sure. You’ve tried explaining it to be at least twice before, but I guess I’m just thick-headed or something.
You want to represent all desktop objects (applications, docs, people, places, settings…) as a part of a the filesystem. This has some neat advantages, and I agree with you on this. However, I still don’t understand how the user accesses the file manager or invokes shortcuts to various filesystem locations (like Applications, for instance). Without a dock/panel/icons/menu implementation, what you have is no interface at all, let alone a solid interface. Or is the desktop itself one big file manager, extending on the concepts of SymphonyOS or Plasma?
Might I suggest, though, that you really push the data-centric interaction path. In other words, you shouldn’t need to open up an email client and then drag a “Person” from the file manager into the To: field. Instead, you should be able to select a Person and then specify what method of communication you wish to use (email, messaging, VoIP, etc.) or that you would like to edit the Person’s profile.
Actually it does. Applications | Documents is the separation on the OS X dock. He’s added people and messed around with the more specific parts of dock.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s neat and great work. But it definitely looks like it has some strong core similarities to the OS X dock.
Actually it does. Applications | Documents is the separation on the OS X dock. He’s added people and messed around with the more specific parts of dock.
Actually, it doesn’t.
Other than the fact that it’s a bar and you can launch applications from it, like you can with every panel out there, it simply isn’t.
Or tell me, how are the following things similar to the OSX dock?
http://www.beatniksoftware.com/gimmie/img/gimmie-topic-apps.png
Does this look like how the OSX dock handles application launching?
http://www.beatniksoftware.com/gimmie/img/gimmie-topic-documents.pn…
http://www.beatniksoftware.com/gimmie/img/gimmie-topic-people.png
Does this in any way resemble the OSX dock handles documents and contacts?
Seriously, claiming it is similar to the OSX dock simply because it also makes a seperation between applications and documents is similar to claiming the OSX dock is similar to the Windows XP panel with the recently used menu.
Actually, it doesn’t.
Other than the fact that it’s a bar and you can launch applications from it, like you can with every panel out there, it simply isn’t.
That’s the whole point in being a dock. You’ve just proved yourself wrong in that statement, congratulations.
Seriously, claiming it is similar to the OSX dock simply because it also makes a seperation between applications and documents is similar to claiming the OSX dock is similar to the Windows XP panel with the recently used menu.
The Windows XP panel (which is also a terrible interface) doesn’t look practically identical to the OS X dock.
Actually, it doesn’t. Other than the fact that it’s a bar and you can launch applications from it, like you can with every panel out there, it simply isn’t.
——————
That’s the whole point in being a dock. You’ve just proved yourself wrong in that statement, congratulations.
What? The ability to launch applications makes it a dock? So are file managers docks as well? And command line shells?
I’ve seen the Gimme flash demo a while ago and think it’s a lot nice than most other dock-type panels, but there are a few things that aren’t clear:
* People are a lot more than IM. Personally, I don’t IM that much, so it’s mostly a waste of space. It would be a lot more useful to associate other things with people (e.g. send email to people, view all past communications with people, view documents written by different people, etc) and you may want to do different things at different times of the day. How can this be accommodated?
* WRT documents, how are multiple instances of the document handled (e.g. one is opened read-only in one app, read-only in another app, and read-write in a third app)?
* WRT people, how are multiple uses of people handled? (send an email, IM, etc)
* WRT to several instances of the same application running, how are they distinguished?
The dock handles documents by putting the minimized ones off to the size of the applications list.
And no, you do not simply launch applications from the dock. A better word might be that you access them from there, because if they’re running they are not relaunched but simply switched to. So, when you click on the application its windows unhide.
In this system he has the apps, then documents, then people. People is something new, and a cool idea I might add. And the window interface to specific items is certainly original. However, the general idea of separating documents and applications and representing them succinctly on the over toplevel panel is very similar to apple’s dock.
Now this idea is vastly different from that of a panel. A panel, typically, being an above top-level container. Things like taskbars, system trays, and menus being added they get the similar functionality.
Windows XP does not make any separation between a document or application. Neither does KDE or Gnome. The only other one, which is similar to Dock, I can think of is Windowmaker: Which seperates applications and windows (which is what OS X does too, however OS X seems to guarantee SDI in its hig, so it’s typically equivalent).
Windows XP, and other taskbars, separate windows. And they attempt, sometimes, to group by process id when it gets packed in.
I’d say this guy is making what OS X’s dock wishes is could be, although maybe with a little handier interface than the current windows (but I imagine that’ll improve greatly later on).
You’d think saying this has core similarities to OS X’s dock was herecy, geez.
I don’t think anyone has a problem with saying there are core similarities. I think the problem lies with someone calling it a “dock clone”, which it is not.
I certainly hope it isn’t a dock clone. The dock sucks too much to copy.
Why this obsession with the dock?
The dock has been around for more than a decade (even in alternative OS’es) before Apple implemented it.
It’s like going all nuts about mouse cursors in OS/2. WTF!?
Did I go nuts? Did I judge the project over similarites? Am I wrong because I failed to point out that the Dock was a ripoff of an idea that was already done in NeXT?
I didn’t even call this a ripoff. I simply said it has core similarities to the dock in OS X. And it does: Looking at windows, applications, whatever else as something more than just windows and process id’s.
I did not in any way imply you were wrong.
I merely asked why people are so obsessed with the “Apple” dock. Everytime people see something which resembles a launchpad of any kind, they scream “OMFG! RIP-OFF! THEY HAVE STOLEN IDEAS FROM OS X!”
This is despite the fact that the OS X dock is the NeXTSTEP dock, and despite the fact that launchpads are generally very alike and have been around for at least 2 decades.
So, why this obsession with the Apple dock? Whether or not gimmie is alike the Apple dock is irrelevant. The question is: Why this obsession?
OMG IT’S A COMPLETELY NEW KIND OF APP NEVER EVER BEFORE EVEN CONSIDERED BY ANYONE ANYWHERE!
Even still it would be nothing to sheet your drawers over and I hate to be the first to break it to you but there is nothing new under the sun.
OMG OS X RIPPED OFF CDE!@#@!#
Nope, NeXt did it first.
Well, other OS’es had dock-like launchpads before NeXT was even begun.
The real question is: will it provide Gnome with a run dialog and other essential features?
try alt-f2
Seems almost like a hidden feature, anymore stuff like this?
Here’s some more hot-keys for ya:
http://www.clug.ca/book/print/225
Now that’s real intuitive.
Alt-F2 is the shortcut. You can get the run dialog by going to the “Actions” menu and clicking the “Run Program” menu item. Alternately, you can use the Deskbar application to launch your app. Both are pretty intuitive.
.
A “run dialog” isn’t a very intuitive thing in the first place. It’s nothing but a lobotomized command prompt.
touche’ What good is a command prompt without a continuation prompt?
uh isn’t there a gnome-run applet also…
I’m incredibly confused.. can someone tell me what this is?
Rocinante, that’s Dulcinea. But don’t worry: she’s not your type.
From the homepage link on the link supplied from OSnews:
”
* Integrated display of:
o Applications from the system menu
o Recently used documents, applications, printers, network shares, etc
o People you’ve recently chatted with
o People currently logged in for IM
o Your Gaim buddy list’s group organization
o All devices, printers, mapped network shares, and system settings
* Show open conversations, opened documents, and running applications (both new and legacy) in the Gimmie Bar
* Bookmark apps, documents, and people in the Gimmie Bar for quick access
* Allow log out, shutdown, or switching to another user
* Shows the current time, a desktop switcher, and a trashcan
* Search for items with instantly displayed results
* Zoom in and out on recently used items, from today, to this month and beyond
”
I read about this a while ago, and I was and still am intrigued by it. It could really help manage commonly used items in a nice usable package. I must say that the name, though, deserves a little chuckle.
Thanks for the info. I kinda got overwhelmed by all the shiny pictures and didn’t RTFA.
It’s a first step in the direction of 3.0: making data the central part of operating systems. For 7.0 (not 4.0, I’m realistic…) they could get rid of the applications part altogether
Kind of reminds me of moving from procedural to object-oriented.
>they could get rid of the applications part altogether
Huh?
While I can buy off that sometimes you feel document-centric, totally hiding applications just doesn’t make sense. Sometimes I really want to launch Gnus. A per-newsgroup interface would become unfun.
I think that the marks would be better in the program instead of a bar.
If I like to write a file i would open openoffice writer and there i should select the tipe of file (work,family,…) upon save or at beginnig using some templates.
In other view, there can also be that function on the nautilus, where in the home folder the files previous declared tag’s using the same interface as openoffice.
the name that is … other then that a pretty little toy to present functionality and data
…this all looks very familiar. I am pretty sure I have seen similar (in appearance and basic functionality) setups in both litestep and (I am forgetting what it is called – sorry) Desktop Objects I think it is.
Personally I really enjoy this kind of organization. I use litestep a lot at work until I was told “I shouldn’t be using an alternative shell on my system”.
Oh well, back to plain old XP.
Revolutionary, it’s a strip on your desktop that has apps, docks and information. I would have never thought of such a thing. I am telling you, THIS will be the thing that will catapult the Linux desktop into the lead.
So, it sounds like you’ve tried it? I couldn’t really tell from just looking at the screenshots, but how do you feel it compares to other docks or the current GNOME panels? What is it that sets it apart from the others?
I really don’t like the way that looks on the screen. I like how its integrated with Beagle though.
They should move the “dock” into a taskbar Applet.
Looks really promising, requires lots of work though. It may simplify lots of things to new users beceause it takes a new approach based on frequent tasks. I hope that after Gimme becomes stable and refined it will be based on plugins because that’s the place where most potential is IMO. It already integrates with Gaim (and Evolution but I’m not sure) and could do the same for more apps like Rhythmbox.
I’m not happy about one thing. Gimme makes the same mistake that Dock does, there’s no easily visible name of running application so everything can become quite messy with more windows open. Taskbar is the only way to go here unfortunately.
Guys! This is great! Really, gimme is the best thing since sliced bread… Yep. Sure, some things need fixing, but I think this might very well be the future. Ideas like this, or at least parts of it have been floating around, I’ve seen some of them on KDE4 related brainstorms. But this guy has a working thing, and I think its wonderfull. I hope the Gnome’s don’t dismiss this to easily. KDE 4 is gonna innovate, and if Gnome doesn’t, it’ll be left behind even more.
now we are done screaming clone and done bashing gnome for not having a run dialog because we all know that everyone loves to use a run dialog and nothing else.
we turn our attention BACK to actually discussing gimmie
I LOVED this statement
“Make it _easy_ for people to do totally new stuff, like Gimmie, and then promote the hell out of it. If it sucks, find a new one. The Linux desktop should be what lets you do what you _can’t_ do elsewhere, not the one where you can do _most_ of the stuff you can do elsewhere, but with better software licensing terms on some of it.”
Gnome has had a run dialogue for years…
What I like about Gimmie is the ease at which you’re able to access information. Someone mentioned plugins as the future and I agree. As with Rox more smaller apps that interoperate and plugin seem to be the next wave. This will have an enormous impact on the industry as groups will be able to develop software and compete for smaller niche functions rather than generating a huge application. I could see this also to help farm more great software from the community as an individual can focus on a smaller chunk of a larger whole and really put in some quality time and effort to perfecting a task.
The people tab looks really cool as it could potentially replace your buddy list and your address book merging them into one, almost similarly to gmail but one would have the option to swap the fundamental parts.
I think the future is definately allowing for more than one way to skin a cat and any software that helps make that possible is of great value.
I’d also like to see the ability to create new user specified tabs or groupings. Or perhaps allow for scripting buttons and making macros. I use wikis a lot to help organize all sorts of projects. What I value in them is the ability to create basically any kind of site. It would be great if the same were true with taskbars and docks. Create something fundamentally simple that the user can also expand on as their competence grows.
I’m a designer and so I’d also like to see Gimmie also Glamorous. The pastels could use some work, same with the boxy, dingy theme that has proliferated throughout gnome.