I would like to give my ideas about this button as a standard user. I don’t know if this is the right place to give my opinion? Anyway I hope there are enough software people around.
As a new Linux (Ubuntu) user, I find this button not so well designed.
I was looking for an app that I installed and obviously went looking inside this button. And looked inside the “Home” tab. There, there was 3 sections: Applications, Files & Folders and Web. So I started to check in the Applications area. To my surprise, there was very few apps there. Not for example Libre Office apps. I played with the filters. But again nothing showed up.
After I realized that all my apps were in the “Applications” (obviously) tab “Installed” area.
Summarizing: I think the human engineering factors of this button may be better. What is the difference between “Home” and other buttons? What is the purpose of this button (if I cannot find there all my apps)? Is this where the “last used” should appear? But these also appear in other buttons also…
I don’t seem to have a “search your computer” button, so I’m really confused about what you might be trying to say.
Are you offering to help the Ubuntu developers with better code, testing, or documentation for that button? Or are you merely offering a fire-and-forget opinion?
I am referring to the left most “super” key. When the cursor is on it, “Search your computer” tip shows up. According to the Ubuntu documentation (that now I searched for it), this is the “Activities” button. But as a new to Linux/Ubuntu world, and normal-non-developer user, I thought that I can search there my apps (because of the tool tip “search your computer”).
And I thought that I could share my view to the developers in order to improve things. I think, maybe, the help documentation should be improved. As the tool tip shows “search your computer”. I think this should be “Activities” or better “Search activities”. You don’t want users share their opinions? I thought any point of view could help…
Sorry, but I don’t understand. I cannot get to visualize any “search your computer” tip. On latest Ubuntu (called Bionic, version 18.04) I have in the top corner a label named “Activities”, which does not have any tooltip, and at the bottom left corner a grid icon, with tooltip “Show applications”
The super key (the one on the keyboard with windows logo, in most of the keyboards) shows the same view Activities button shows, but of course there is no tooltip
I wonder if you are referring to the text area in the middle of the screen , but again is not “search your computer”
I am referring to the left-most button in the picture below (I included the tip tool appearing on).
I was just looking a simple place to look for “all” my apps and I click this button. But after a few guesses I realized that in order to see all my apps, I needed to go and check the “Apps” tab inside the “Installed” area (tab with A letter beside the Home tab)
Therefore, what I am saying is–
1/ If this button is called (according to Help documentation) “Activities”, therefore the tip tool should show “Activities” or “Search activities” and not “Search your computer”
2/ And also, at least for me, this button seems to be like Home button where I can reach all my apps in my computer, and it is not so. At least not directly. I think there should be a more direct way to see all the apps installed.
Thank you.
As a new user I cannot put 2 pictures inside a post. Therefore below I show where I found all my apps.
See in lower part, “A” tab (beside the “Home” tab) and the “Installed” area.
I understand now. Probably you have read the documentation for the new Ubuntu, which since the last 2 releases is using GNOME desktop instead of Unity (the one you’re picture is about). To be clearer, GNOME desktop is the one in my picture above, with activities and “Show Applications”
GNOME has some “state” / “presentation mode” called GNOME dash which includes the following things all merged together in one awesome space:
- window thumbnail spread
- workspace panel were you can drag the window thumbnails onto
- search for applications and files
This can be opened by either clicking the “activities” button in the upper left corner OR by just pressing the super key (windows key)
There is also an alternative version of this dash called application grid which you can either open by pressing super + A or by clicking the application grid icon in the ubuntu dock (if you are using the default ubuntu theme it’s that app grid icon which you prbly know from android or the ubuntu icon if you are using the communitheme)
In this application grid you can also type just right away to search