Re: Global menubar (was Re: #4 on ToDo list: make the top panel prettier)

[Dan Winship <danw gnome org>]

Brian Fleeger wrote:
> *Global Menus place menu options along the edge of the screen, and have
> been shown to be more user friendly on screen sizes smaller than 22” in
> at least one study. 
> 
> *The same study cited above stated that on screens 24” and larger,
> in-window menus are more effective

Where is this study?

> *Apple Co., which uses a type of Global Menu, successfully sells and
> markets computers in the 24” to 30” screen range.

And they have completely broken the mouse acceleration curve in current
versions of OS X to compensate for this. (Google for "os x mouse
acceleration". Eg, http://db.tidbits.com/article/8893 gives a good
overview.)

> *Notebook PC shipments (which have screens typically not in excess of
> 17”) exceeded desktop PC shipments in 2008

However, most notebook users are not using mice, and different input
devices obey Fitts' law to different degrees. (In particular, the
thinkpad "joysticks" (aka keyboard nipples) don't obey it at all.) What
works for mouse users on a 22" screen may not work for trackpad users on
a 14" screen.

-- Dan