Altough I’ve been very positive and enthousiastic about gnome-main-menu a while ago, it’s now my main point of annoyance on my desktop. There are of course a few new features that are quite usable and I didn’t want to lose them, so I’ll keep the menu around.
That is, for now. I’ve been working on a new implementation for a GNOME main menu, that takes all advantages of gnome-main-menu and the traditional gnome menu and put’s it in one. I’ll some up some of the most advantages and disadvantages of both:
GNOME Main Menu
Advantages:
- Search bar
- Favorites
- Recently used applications
- Status of network and hard drive (but this is not something you need in a menu)Disadvantages:
- Slow (and often unstable)
- “More Applications” button
- Opening the Application Browser takes too long.
- Getting lost in the Application Browser
- No category icons
- Remove/update/install software actions are too distro specific
- How do I shutdown the machine? I only see” Log Out”Traditional Main Menu
Advantages:
- Places
- Fast
- Category iconsDisadvantages:
- Too much clutter and submenu’s
As you can see there is a long list under disadvantages GNOME Main Menu, don’t get me wrong, I like how the menu looks and the idea behind it, but it just doesn’t work.
Here are some screenshots of actual working code. The new menu shows you GDM face, browses application categories, shows your favorites and has your places at hand. It also shows the user’s name, so you know as who you’re logged in. The menu is written in pyGTK.
There is still a lot to be done:
- Integrating a search bar that shows the results where the small application browser is.
- There is a basic applet, but doesn’t look good yet.
- Category icons have to be shown somewhere.
- Adding applications to favorites
If you like what you see and help me out on this making this a fast and usable main menu, please contact me!
Source code can be found here.
Hi hylke, I think you should check out Gimmie from Alex Graveley; it has all the advantages you mentioned and none of the downsides. It’s quite an innovative approach to the desktop, too.
Really, give it a try.
Any howto to install menu?
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It looks promissing, but I wish to test it
I personally think that the dropdown should be replaced with a -still far from ideal- row of tabs. This wouldn’t comfortably fit in the provided space, though, but it’s a direction I’d like to see chosen over the dropdown. The problem with a dropdown in a menu such as this is that it requires an extra step to even *show the other options. For those new to computers, it’s also not entirely conductive to finding what they need.
It’s really nice to see some thought go into this, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your mockups!
Michael: Yeah, that may be a better idea!
Michael, you can use scroll over dropdowns and tabs, so it’s doesn’t matter now what component will be used
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Hylke, do you plan developing this? I’m so excited of this, but it doesn’t work yet.