This is the seventh article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms [part I | part II | part III | part IV | part V | part VI]. On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSNews, it is almost certain that in any given discussion, someone will most likely bring up usability and GUI related terms - things like spatial memory, widgets, consistency, Fitts' Law, and more. The aim of this series is to explain these terms, learn something about their origins, and finally rate their importance in the field of usability and (graphical) user interface design. In part VII, as promised in part VI, we focus completely on CDE, the Common Desktop Environment.
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Member since:2006-01-19
Because there is no imaginable need to resize it, there is no way to resize it.
That is simply not true. My taskbar on KDE takes about 1/3rd of valuable monitor height, and can incorporate the same functionality, therefore ther definitely is very much need to resize the panel.
When I had to work with CDE I constantly asked myself: Why oh why have the desktop designers been so stupid, to not allow the front panel to become smaller.
And the maximize button has also been next to unusable, because it maximizes the app above or beneath the panel, which is not really multitasking-friendly.
Member since:2006-10-08
"My taskbar on KDE takes about 1/3rd of valuable monitor height, and can incorporate the same functionality, therefore ther definitely is very much need to resize the panel."
I think you're refering to the ability to scale the elements inside CDE's front panel. Hmmm... that's a good question, I never saw a need to change the icon size, so I can't tell you if it's possibl or not. At least I can tell you thatt the XFCE 3 panel can be "resized", more correctly: The icons can be set to a smaller size so the panel consumes less height.
"When I had to work with CDE I constantly asked myself: Why oh why have the desktop designers been so stupid, to not allow the front panel to become smaller."
The discussion about CDE offers an interesting fact: There seem to be only two opinions about it: Hate it or like it.
Sadly, I've got no CDE at hand so I can't tell you if there's eventually a dialog that allows you to change the icon size to a smaller value. And I've never seen a CDE that differed from the standard settings regarding panel height.
"And the maximize button has also been next to unusable, because it maximizes the app above or beneath the panel, which is not really multitasking-friendly."
At least in XFCE 3 you can define an area that is explicitely excluded when maximizing, so the panel and minimized windows won't be covered (~/.xfce/xfwmrc: Margin Top / Left / Right / Bottom).
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Member since:
2006-10-08
"The front panel is my biggest gripe. You can move it and minimize it but not resize it. Aggravating."
Because there is no imaginable need to resize it, there is no way to resize it. The panel resizes automatically if you place more icons into it or remove icons.
"Plus being able to use jpegs or pngs as backdrops instead of xpms would go a long way to (yes you can get around this, but it would be better built in)."
XFCE 3 is what you're describing. I've installed it on some slower boxes (300 MHz Intel) for users who were familiar and comfortable with CDE, and they liked it. XFCE 3 looks much like CDE and can be combined with CDE color schemes and focus behaviour. Plus, it lets you use JPG and PNG images as backdrops.