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< Design

Revision as of 11:53, 22 May 2012 by Aday (talk | contribs) (add a bug, minor status updates)

Fedora includes an extremely large number of application launchers by default. This leads to a significant degredation of the user experience. The problem is compounded by the frequently confusing, unecessary and irrelevant nature of some of these launchers.

  • A high number of launchers makes launching applications inefficient and difficult - it takes a long time to find the launcher you are looking for, and is an unpleasant experience.
  • Creates work for users. Every time they want to launch an application, they have to process a large number of launchers, many of which are uninteresting to them.
  • Prevents personalisation. Installing apps is an important way in which people can change their system to make it suit them. If installed applications are lost within a sea of preinstalled launchers, the OS will never feel like it belongs to the user.
  • Makes people feel like the OS isn't designed for them. 'If it contains lots of launchers which I don't understand or don't care about, it obviously isn't for me.'

This page tracks the progress of an initiative to tackle these problems by reducing the number of application launchers included in a new Fedora install. It requires making improvements to upstream software as well as fixing distribution-specific issues.

Status

Some applications need to be removed from the default install, others just need to have their launchers hidden. There needs to be a process for each issue to identify the best course of action.

Discussions for individual launchers should take place in bug reports - not here.

Name aka Bugs Notes Status
Archive Manager fileroller Hide launcher? Incomplete
Authentication system-config-auhentication Don't install Incomplete
Document Viewer evince Hide launcher? Incomplete
Firewall system-config-firewall Don't install? Incomplete
IBus Hangul Preferences ibus-setup-hangul Integrate into System Settings, hide launcher Incomplete
Input Method Selector ibus-setup Integrate into System Settings In progress
Network Connections nm-connection-editor GNOME Control Center currently depends on nm-connection-editor. Incomplete
Power Statistics gnome-power-statistics GNOME Bug 676551 This is part of the gnome-power-manager module. Incomplete
Printing system-config-printer Don't install Incomplete
Release Notes A link Move somewhere else (Firefox bookmark?) Incomplete
Search for Files... gnome-search-tool Don't install, might need some improvements to searching in Nautilus Incomplete
SELinux Troubleshooter sealert Hide launcher? Incomplete
Software Settings gpk-prefs GNOME Bug 676445 Hide launcher (can be accessed via Add/Remove Software (which needs a better name)) Incomplete
Software Updates gpk-update-viewer GNOME Bug 676445 Hide launcher (needs to be accessible via Add/Remove Software (which needs a better name)) Incomplete
System-Config-Date system-config-date Don't install Incomplete
Users and Groups system-config-users Don't install Incomplete

Additional Notes

Designs for a GNOME 'Usage' application would combine Disk Usage Analyzer, Power Statistics and System Monitor into a single launcher.