Unity 8 Continues To Improve, But Still Has Rough Edges

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Unity 8 Continues To Improve, But Still Has Rough Edges

Canonical's Michael Hall has shared his thoughts of trying out Unity 8 with Mir atop Ubuntu 16.04 as part of a ten-day trial...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Unity-8-Mir-Dogfood

[edoantonioco]

this doesnt look better than unity 7, but I hope this will improve

[andre30correia]

this doesnt look better than unity 7, but I hope this will improve

it's much worst than unity 7, unity 7 this days rock, stable, fast, easy to use and looks good

[jacob]

"one window per app [...] and other minor annoyances"

One window per app and he calls that a "minor annoyance"?!? I call it a dramatic WTF that immediately relegates an UI to the hopelessly unusable category. IMHO nothing could better illustrate just how asinine this whole "convergence" idea is. Apps with one window per document and detachable panels, or just being able to, you know, open as many as TWO folders at the same time and being able to copy files by dragging them from one window to another (imagine that!) is such a fundamental concept of the desktop metaphor that I can't even imagine designing an UI without putting that right, left and center (literally!). So now not having it is a "minor annoyance" but not to worry, it might be implemented in the future as an afterthought?!? Geez....

[blackout23]

"one window per app [...] and other minor annoyances"

One window per app and he calls that a "minor annoyance"?!?

Makes you wonder what the other "minor annoyances" are.

[johnc]

It's a shame that there isn't a company out there interested in making a good Linux desktop experience.

[jacob]

It's a shame that there isn't a company out there interested in making a good Linux desktop experience.

Canonical was such a company once upon a time

[jacob]

Makes you wonder what the other "minor annoyances" are.

Or what a medium annoyance would be? Not being able to move the mouse cursor? Or maybe a black screen?

[Delgarde]

"one window per app [...] and other minor annoyances"

One window per app and he calls that a "minor annoyance"?!? I call it a dramatic WTF that immediately relegates an UI to the hopelessly unusable category. IMHO nothing could better illustrate just how asinine this whole "convergence" idea is. Apps with one window per document and detachable panels, or just being able to, you know, open as many as TWO folders at the same time and being able to copy files by dragging them from one window to another (imagine that!) is such a fundamental concept of the desktop metaphor that I can't even imagine designing an UI without putting that right, left and center (literally!). So now not having it is a "minor annoyance" but not to worry, it might be implemented in the future as an afterthought?!? Geez....

On the other hand, I'm looking at a browser right now, which has only one window open - a ton of tabs, but only one window. Plenty of file managers support tabs and split-screen modes, so they'd be usable with a single window. My IDE is all one window, apart from the occasional popup that could as easily be implemented in-window. I usually only have a single terminal window open, though like the browser, it has a ton of tabs open.

So it may not be as bad as you think. No question, it's poor design to not support multi-window from the start, but given the number of existing apps that do an awful lot from a single-window interface, it may be more usable than you're imagining.

[johnc]

On the other hand, I'm looking at a browser right now, which has only one window open - a ton of tabs, but only one window. Plenty of file managers support tabs and split-screen modes, so they'd be usable with a single window. My IDE is all one window, apart from the occasional popup that could as easily be implemented in-window. I usually only have a single terminal window open, though like the browser, it has a ton of tabs open.

So it may not be as bad as you think. No question, it's poor design to not support multi-window from the start, but given the number of existing apps that do an awful lot from a single-window interface, it may be more usable than you're imagining.

Don't try to justify this stupidity. The point of having multiple windows is so that you can see the content side-by-side which you really can't do in a tabbed interface unless there is some kind of split window option, which is just a dumb way of simulating multiple windows. And if you have multiple monitors it's even more useful.