Proposal for GNOME 2.0 Menu Structure  
Nils Pedersen
Solaris User Interface Design
August 25, 2001
n.p@sun.com
 

Contents

1.0 Proposal for GNOME 2.0 Menu Structure
2.0 Ximian GNOME 1.4 Menus
3.0 Core GNOME 1.4 Menus
 

Revision History

Revision Date Author Synopsis
1 7/10/2001 Nils

First Pass

2 7/18/01 Nils Feedback from #usability channel
3 8/2/01 Nils Added Tooltip Proposal. Moved Binary/Hexidecimal File Editor (GHex) under Development. Removed Font and Color Selector. Reordered some of the menu items in Utilities. Changed Disk Usage (GNOME DiskFree) to File System Usage
4 8/11/01 Nils

More feedback from IRC and email.
Put the 2.0 proposal first in the document
Removed the conditional procrastination in the tooltips
Added Search tooltip
Added app names to menus for Evolution, Mozilla/Netscape, GIMP, and Nautilus

5 8/25/01 Nils

More feedback
REMOVED the old names (it was causing confusion)
Removed Version Numbers
Changed Mozilla Tooltip
Did some changes to Volume Meter
Changed Character Map Tooltip
Removed Startup Hint
Changed Terminal Tooltip
Changed Program -> Application
Using Email terminology
Changed GIMP tooltip
Changed Sound recorder Tootip

1.0 Proposal for GNOME 2.0 Menu Structure

If we had a decent panel management app, I'd suggest a two panel layout similar to Ximian's. With no panel management app, I think we should go with one panel as default. There should also only be one menu structure. End-user support costs will be improved if there are no dueling menus. Anyway since this menu proposal is just structural, it is somewhat independent of the final implementation (look and feel).

In talking to Seth, it seems like we may be going for a two panel layout with a new control center launched panel management/editing app (which also does menu editing). I guess the details also need to be worked out with George - who was planning to do a menu editing app - but if the app is architected okay, if think these tasks can be done in parallel.

The policies I used for the menu items were:

We really really need a complete new tool to configure the panel and menus.

The policies I used for the tooltips were:

Some of the menu item name changes mean that the menu name will be different to the application name. I guess there is an assumption here that either the application changes its name to be the same as the new menu new, or at the very least, the application adds the menu name to the window title, for example, "Web Browser - Mozilla", instead of just "Mozilla". Or on the other hand, perhaps we could go for menu labels that have the app name in parenthesis Mail (Evolution), Mail (Netscape Messenger)? Maybe the ApplicationType (ApplicationInstance) label could be generated auto-magical from the keywords stored in the .desktop file?

Old Name in (brackets)

Core GNOME 2.0 (Panel)

Applications - menu - See Table Below [The applications you can run on this computer]
Actions - new menu - See Table Below [Some of the main actions or commands you can run on this computer]
Web Browser (Mozilla) - icon on panel [Browse the World Wide Web or local HTML documents]
Email (Evolution) - icon on panel [Read and send email, manage tasks, contacts, and calendars]
User's Home (Nautilus) - icon on panel [Manage your files and documents]
Terminal - icon on panel [Used to enter commands]
Help - icon on panel [View help and documentation on the GNOME desktop]

maybe put Text File Editor (gedit/gnome-edit) on the main panel as well??

GNOME 2.0 Applications Menu (foot menu)

Applications Internet Web Browser (Mozilla) [Use to browse the World Wide Web or local HTML documents]
Email (Evolution) [Read and send email, manage tasks, contacts, and calendars]
Multimedia CD Player [Play music CDs]
Sound Recorder [Record sound clips]
Volume Monitor [Monitor the sound output volume]
Productivity Calendar (Evolution) [Keep track of appointments]
Time Tracking Tool [Keep track of the amount of time you spend on various tasks]
Finance Manager (Gnucash) [Manage your personal finances]
Graphics Image Editor (GIMP) [Create and edit images]
Image Viewer [View images]
Postscript and PDF Viewer [View Postscript and Portable Document Format (PDF) files]
Utilities Calculator [Perform simple arithmetic tasks]
Dictionary [An online dictionary]
Character Map [Insert special characters into documents]
Bug Report Tool [File bugs on GNOME]
Text File Editor [View and edit text files]
Development Tools Interface Designer (Glade) [Easily create GTK 2.0 based user interfaces]
Binary/Hexidecimal File Editor [View and edit files in binary and hexidecimal format]
Memory Leak Detector [Check your application for memory leaks]
Games (have not touched) FreeCell [someone who is more familair wih games needs to work on this section]
gataxx
Glines
Gnibbles
Gnobotsll
Gnome-Stones
Gnometris
Gnome Mines
Gnotravex
Gnotski
GTali
gTuring
Iagno
Mahjongg
Same Gnome
Desktop Settings [Change your desktop look and behavior] (invokes Nautilus or stand-alone CC)
System Terminal [Used to enter commands]
X Terminal [Type in UNIX commands with the standard X Terminal]
System Information [Displays basic information on your computer]
System Monitor [View the processes, memory and file system information of your computer]
Performance Plotter [Graph certain system attributes over time]
File System Usage [A graphical view of file system usage]
System Log Viewer [A view of of the UNIX syslog]
User Listing [Shows all the users logged onto your system]
User's Home (Nautilus) [Manage your files and documents]  
Recently Run [Keeps track of the last application you ran] 1st program last used
2nd program last used
...
10th program last used
Help [View help and documentation on the GNOME desktop]  

I assume the CDE/Sun/Solaris and other platform specific menus would be a child of the Programs menu.

GNOME 2.0 Actions Menu

Run... [Run applications, if you know the correct command to type in]
Search...[Find files, folders, and documents on your computer]
Shut Down or Reboot [Turn off or restart your computer]
Lock Display (Lock Screen) [Protect your computer from unauthorized use]
Log Out [Quit from the GNOME desktop]

 

2.0 Ximian GNOME 1.4 Menus

Following is a table showing the Ximian GNOME 1.4 menu structure:

Ximian GNOME 1.4 (foobar menu)
Programs Adressbook Gnomecard  
Audio Grip CD Player/Ripper  
XMMS Media Player  
Gnapster  
Recorder  
Volume Control  
Calendar Gnomecal Calendar  
Time Tracker  
Finance Calculator  
Gnucash Finance Manager  
Internet

 

Mozilla Web Browser  
Evolution  
Mozilla Mail  
GAIM Instant Messenger  

X Chat IRC Chat

 
GnomeICU Instant Messenger  
Gnapster  
PAN News Reader  
GFTP  
Red Carpet  
Games Solitaire  
FreeCell  
Iagno  
Mahjongg  
GLines  
Nibbles  
Mines  
Gataxx  
Klotski  
Tetravex  
Stones  
Same Gnome  
Graphics Dia Diagram Editor  
GPhoto Digital Camera Tool  
GIMP Image Editor  
GQView Image Viewer  
Postscipt/PDF Viewer  
Software Development Emacs Text Processor  
Glade UI Designer  
MemProf Memory Profiler  
Utilities Terminal  
Calculator  
Character Picker  
Dictionary  
Floppy Formatter  
GEdit Notepad  
Bug Buddy Problem Reporter  
Red Carpet  
GTop System Monitor  
Mozilla Web Browser    
Gnumeric Spreadsheet    
Favorites    
Applets Amusements Fish
Fifteen
gEyes
Game of Life
Odometer
Clocks Clock
Another Clock
AfterStep Clock
Clock and Mailcheck
JBC Binary Clock
Monitors Battery Charge Monitor
CPULoad
CPU/MEM Usage
Disk Usage
Load Average
Mem Load
NetLoad
SwapLoad
Stripchart
Multimedia CD Player
Mixer
Sound Monitor
XMMS Applet
Network Mailcheck
Clock and Mailcheck
GNOME Stock Ticker
Modem Lights
SlashApp
Web Control
RH PPP Dialer
Gaim
GnomeICU
Utility Desk Guide
Printer Applet
Tasklist
Character Picker
Drive Mount
GKB Keyboard Switcher
GDict
GNOME Weather
Mini-Commander
QuickLaunch
ScreenShooter
Tick-a-Stat
Where Am I?
System Settings...    
Get Software...    
Find...    
Run...    
Lock Screen    
Log Out    
Help Frequently Asked Questions    
User's Manual    
Chat    
Report a Problem    
Mozilla      
Terminal      
Clock      
TaskList      

Some Pros and Cons of the Ximian Menu Structure

For

Against

Core GNOME 1.4 Menus

Following is a table showing the core GNOME 1.4 menu structure:

Note: Actually it's based on the Sun Distribution of GNOME 1.4 - I did not have access to a version of core GNOME. I am told that the Sun distribution is pretty close to GNOME core.
Tooltips help in italics and square brackets [tooltip]
Core (Sun) GNOME 1.4 (Panel)
Foot Menu [NONE] See Table Below
Log out of GNOME  
Lock screen  
Integrated help system  
Terminal Emulation Program  
The GNOME configuration Tool  
Netscape browser (I guess this would be mozilla in other distributions)

 

Core (Sun) GNOME 1.4 (foot menu)
Programs Applications Nautilus [Nautilus File Manager and Graphical Shell]  
gedit [Text editor] I think core GNOME uses gnome-edit
GHex [Gnome Hexadecimal Editor]  
Time tracking tool [Time Tracker Tool]  
Utilities Startup Hint [Browse the startup hints]  
Bug Report Tool [Report a bug in GNOME]  
GDict [GNOME client for the MIT dictionary server]  
Simple Calculator [Simple Calculator]  
GNOME Character Map [GNOME Character Map]  
Color Browser [Browse available X11 colors.]  
Font Selector [Select a fint for pasting]  
Text File Viewer [Page files as with 'more' and 'less]  
GNOME Search Tool [GNOME Search Tool]  
Stripchart Plotter [Stripchart Plotter]  
Development (empty)  
Games FreeCell [FreeCell Game]  
gataxx [Gnome ataxx game]  
Glines [Gnome color lines]  
Gnibbles [Gnome Gnibbles Game]  
Gnobotsll [Gnome Gnobotsll game]  
Gnome-Stones [Gnome Stones game]  
Gnometris [Gnome Tetris Game]  
Gnome Mines [Gnome Mines game]  
Gnotravex [Gnome Tetravex game]  
Gnotski [Gnome Klotski]  
GTali [Gnome Dice game]  
gTuring [Waste time with a simulated Turing machine]  
Iagno [Gnome Reversi game]  
Mahjongg [Gnome Mahjongg program]  
Same Gnome [Gnome SameGame program]  
Graphics Eye of Gnome [Image Viewer]  
GNOME Ghostview [A Ghostcript frontend to visualize PostScript files]  
Finance Calculator  
Gnucash Finance Manager  
Internet Netscape [Netscape browser] (I guess this would be mozilla in other distributions)
Multimedia Sound recorder [A simple soundrecording program for GNOME]  
CD Player [GNOME CD Player]  
ESD Volume Meter [A Volume Unit Meter for ESD]  
Settings GNOME Control Center [NONE]  
Desktop Background [Configuration of the desktop's background]
Screensaver [Configure seetings of rge screensaver]
Theme Selector [Select which desktop theme to use]
Window Manager [Choose a window manager]
Panel [Global panel properties]
Launch Feedback [Settings for Application Launch Feedback]
Multimedia Sound [Configure GNOME's use of sound]
Peripherals Keyboard [Keyboard Properties]
Mouse [Mouse Properties]
Session Startup Hint [Options for the startup hint dialog]
Save Current Session [NONE]
Session Properites & Startup Programs [NONE]
Session Properties [Current session managed programs]
Document Handlers Default Editor [Choose the editor that is invoked by gnome-edit]
URL Handlers [Configure which programs are used to display URLs]
HTML Viewer [HTML Viewer properties]
User Interface (empty)
File Types and Programs [Specify whuch programs are used to open or view each file type]  
Imlib Configuration Options [Image loading and display options]  
Menu Editor [NONE]  
Sawfish Window Manager [Control Center Menu] Meta [Configure window manager configuration properties]
Appearance [Configure window appearance]
Shortcuts [Configure key shortcuts]
Focus behavior [Configure window focusing]
Matched Windows [Configure window properties]
Minimizing and Maximizing [Configure window minimizing and maximizing]
Miscellaneous [Configure miscellaneous window features]
Moving and Resizing [Configure window move/resize]
Placement [Configure window placement]
Sound [Enable window manager sound events]
Workspaces [Configure workspaces]
System [System Menu] Regular XTerm [Regular XTerm]  
GNOME Terminal [Terminal emulation program]  
System monitor [GNOME System Monitor]  
GNOME DiskFree [Show free disk space on mounted file systems using dials]  
Shut Down or Reboot [Turn off or reset the computer]  
System Info [Technical information about this computer]  
User Listing [View users on the system]  
System log monitor [SysLog tool]  
Help System    
Favorites (empty)    
Applets Amusements Fish  
Fifteen  
gEyes  
Game of Life  
Odometer  
Clocks Clock  
Another Clock  
AfterStep Clock  
Clock and Mailcheck  
JBC Binary Clock  
Monitors Battery Charge Monitor  
CPULoad  
CPU/MEM Usage  
Disk Usage  
Load Average  
Mem Load  
NetLoad  
SwapLoad  
Stripchart  
Multimedia CD Player  
Mixer  
Sound Monitor  
XMMS Applet  
Network Mailcheck  
Clock and Mailcheck  
GNOME Stock Ticker  
Modem Lights  
SlashApp  
Web Control  
Utility Desk Guide  
Printer Applet  
Tasklist  
Character Picker  
GNotes  
GNOME Weather  
Mini-Commander  
QuickLaunch  
ScreenShooter  
Tick-a-Stat  
Where Am I?  
GDict  
Run...      
Panel Lots of stuff here I'm not even going to bother filling the table out on this one
Lock screen      
Log out      

Some Pros and Cons of the Core Menu Structure

For

Against