Description: Recent menu's are not my idea of how a menu should look like, like the standard menu which comes with KDE 4.
Why? I think that a menu is not only a tool to let you find the application of your choice and start it. IMHO a menu is also a sort of display/catalogue to show all the applications which are available.
I've added a screenshot of an impression of how I think a menu should look like. It's basically a circle (flower/cloud) where the submenus are smaller circles (leaves). When selecting one, like the group "Internet", the neighbourgroups should also appear, with a different color and/or transparancy.
When I move the mouse to the group Multimedia, the group Office disappears, and the group Graphics comes up. The other way is the same. When moving the mouse to the Office group, the group Multimedia disappears and the group System comes up. When selecting a subgroup in the Office segment, Koffice for example, the neighboursgroups of the first level Internet and System disappear. The group of the same level Open Office will come up, again with another color/transparancy.
The screenshot added gives an impression.
This idea uses circles. A disadvantage is that this circle is getting full when there are lot of applications/subgroups within this group.
> I think that a menu is not only a tool > to let you find the application of your > choice and start it.
Of course. A Menu ist a list of functions and informations. It's a omni-present feature of modern userinterfaces.
And your idea is a old concept, known as 'pie menu' or sometimes also 'circular menu' called. And your specific implementation is'nt really new, i saw it already some years ago.
There is'nt enogh to 'think about'. There are more than enough discussions about piemenus on the internet, search for them, or implement this concret concept and *than* discuss about the working details.
BTW As a short hint: think about the used space. Piemenus normaly does'nt grow, they replace.
Its a nice idea but I think it would get messy fast.
One way to help reduce the mess I guess would be when you move from category to another category to remove the previous category so that only one is displayed at a time.
I would also find searching for an item in a circular arrangement harder than finding something that's listed from top to bottom (as I am used to with pretty much everything else that uses text :-) ) as current menu.
On another note someone has written something similar to this before I am sure. It was a katapult like program where you could build up a circular menu system of your favourite applications. Maybe that will get KDE4 and have an option to use the standard menu source in the process so you can use that menu system if you wish :-). I used it once, but it was a novelty feature so i got annoyed fast :-)
"On another note someone has written something similar to this before I am sure. It was a katapult like program where you could build up a circular menu system of your favourite applications."
Do you mean this one?
http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Kommando?content=29514
It was great in KDE3.x, and I hope it will ported to 4.x eventually.
"KDE Improvement" is not intended to contains idea or mockups (even if a lot of people put their ideas here).
Please, move your entry to KDE4 Brainstorm (it's not perfect but better than here)
Ok, where can I find this section.
I agree that this section is not the best place for this, but I could not find any beter. But I have to admit I did not search a lot.
Stef Bon
The Brainstorm section is in http://www.kde-look.org/
IMHO this should be made more generic than "KDE4 Brainstorm" now that KDE4 is out but well...
Cheers
Ratings & Comments
10 Comments
It looks like a very good idea to me, whether old or new...
For touchpad, small movements is a good idea, especially in context menu.
> I think that a menu is not only a tool > to let you find the application of your > choice and start it. Of course. A Menu ist a list of functions and informations. It's a omni-present feature of modern userinterfaces. And your idea is a old concept, known as 'pie menu' or sometimes also 'circular menu' called. And your specific implementation is'nt really new, i saw it already some years ago.
Ok, sometimes it happens people are reinventing the wheel, but more important, what do you think of it?
There is'nt enogh to 'think about'. There are more than enough discussions about piemenus on the internet, search for them, or implement this concret concept and *than* discuss about the working details. BTW As a short hint: think about the used space. Piemenus normaly does'nt grow, they replace.
Its a nice idea but I think it would get messy fast. One way to help reduce the mess I guess would be when you move from category to another category to remove the previous category so that only one is displayed at a time. I would also find searching for an item in a circular arrangement harder than finding something that's listed from top to bottom (as I am used to with pretty much everything else that uses text :-) ) as current menu. On another note someone has written something similar to this before I am sure. It was a katapult like program where you could build up a circular menu system of your favourite applications. Maybe that will get KDE4 and have an option to use the standard menu source in the process so you can use that menu system if you wish :-). I used it once, but it was a novelty feature so i got annoyed fast :-)
"On another note someone has written something similar to this before I am sure. It was a katapult like program where you could build up a circular menu system of your favourite applications." Do you mean this one? http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Kommando?content=29514 It was great in KDE3.x, and I hope it will ported to 4.x eventually.
"KDE Improvement" is not intended to contains idea or mockups (even if a lot of people put their ideas here). Please, move your entry to KDE4 Brainstorm (it's not perfect but better than here)
Ok, where can I find this section. I agree that this section is not the best place for this, but I could not find any beter. But I have to admit I did not search a lot. Stef Bon
The Brainstorm section is in http://www.kde-look.org/ IMHO this should be made more generic than "KDE4 Brainstorm" now that KDE4 is out but well... Cheers