"Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons

xekuta747

Remember your physical desktop. A plane piece of wood with sorted items on it.

When the first GUIs came out, there was a background you soon could chose. But the icons to click and launch applications were sorted in groups, and as soon as you opened the groups, you didn't see the background.

Then Windows 95 came. I am really not a fan of Microsoft, but they realized that people want to see their chosen background behind their icons, and MS managed to find a solution. This was a great improval and the thing how people want to have their desks.

Then Touchscreens appeared. Icons had to become bigger, but instead of migrating Microsoft decided to separate the traditional Desktop and the Touch-Desktop, resulting in chaos.

Meanwhile Ubuntu developed the Unity-"Desktop" with a bar on the left side and an empty desktop. This is what we still have in Ubuntu Touch.

While Ubuntu is back at Gnome, and you can fill the background with icons again, the Ubuntu Touch Desktop is still empty. It can be filled with Applications by pressing that orange button on the leftside down button, but then the background is darkened.

Why don't we

get rid of that bar on the left side
make a Desktop with background and icons?

That was and is the best solution, working on Windows 95 - Windows XP and Android.

Moem

@xekuta747 There is no accounting for taste... but if that's what you want, you can have that. There are several apps available that give you a more traditional home screen with your background picture plus icons, and hide the app launcher by default.

There is Home, there is Launcher Modular... give them a try.

Lakotaubp

@xekuta747 See here https://forums.ubports.com/topic/6001/need-testers-home-screen-for-ubuntu-touch/73 If you check out the forum there have been a few threads around this subject and it has been hotly discussed (as you will see).
UT is as it is and is staying that way for the foreseeable future. It is all Opensource and you are free to change/alter or come up with your own solutions to issues you care about. UBports has limited resources and the focus is on the move to 20.04.
As @Moem pointed out there a couple of solutions in the OpenStore to change things which you may like https://open-store.io/app/home.s710 and https://open-store.io/app/launchermodular.ubuntouchfr Also remember there are many here who do not want anythng that even vaugely reminds them of w******, g***** and such.

xekuta747

@lakotaubp I thought this forum is for discussion about design.

My question is: What are this empty 90 % of the Ubuntu Touch Screen for? It's so weird.

Pulsar33

Yes, this forum is for discussion and this is your opinion.
Many people have another feeling. I don't want anything polluting my background picture

And moreover, I would like that this background picture can change automatically.
This is why I created an issue (but nobody seems to have time to work on it)
BR
Pulsar33

kugiigi

We respect your opinion but I don't think that would happen anytime soon or ever especially removing the launcher and app drawer. I personally don't like that because that would just make it like Android and iOS and I don't like staring at a sea of icons and apps

Many things in UT are not really intended decisions, they can be just that something's not implemented yet. For example, the app drawer is just a list with no way to customize or even sort but it's only because it hasn't been given much priority to improve it. Same with the desktop, I'm pretty sure there will be options that will be implemented there like app shortcuts, file shortcuts and widgets. Someone just needs to implement them.

xekuta747

@pulsar33 Thank you, that is the discussion I like. You give me an example for a reason why this kind of desktop is useful, in this case as a digital picture frame.

Alter

@xekuta747 For me, the clean uncluttered design of Ubuntu Touch is something very appealing. Personally, I find that having all app icons in sight all of the time (like on A****** ) creates a chaotic appearance. So, for me I hope it can stay that way. But, for you there are apps that can change appearance, and who knows in the future we can do this in OS settings?

Keneda

@alter
Nobody is saying apps MUST be on the background, just that the desktop should be tweakable.

Who wants nothing on it let it empty, who wants to add some apps icons on it can, same for widgets, same for folders (for sorting apps or for files), etc...

I don't think this is chaotic by the way :
text alternatif

In the other way, not being able to sort apps in the app drawer can be very chaotic when you have lot of apps in it.

Alter

@keneda I just wanted to show my appreciation for the current clean layout of UT. I understand this thread is not directly about leaving that design choice, but a discussion about more desktop tweak options in OS settings. I am all for that, and I understand some users with a lot of apps might even NEED to tweak the design. This not necessarily means cluttering up the desktop, I know, but it can. I just hope that it will always be possible to have a clean layout.

A Former User

@pulsar33 said in "Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons:

I don't want anything polluting my background picture

+1 for the nice puppy picture

Moem

@keneda said in "Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons:

Nobody is saying apps MUST be on the background

One could be forgiven for believing that this was in fact said by the OP.

Keneda

@moem
Indeed

RobTheBold

@xekuta747 said in "Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons:

frame

Barring further explanation, I think that's exactly the design goal: to reserve the lower-right ~90% of the screen for pet pictures.

A Former User

@robthebold said in "Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons:

to reserve the lower-right ~90% of the screen for pet pictures.

On that note, here's Jess and Henry enjoying a dip in Mangaokewa Stream in the Waikato.

UniSuperBox

We've had an adjacent discussion before: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/2579/i-wanna-go-home

There have also been discussions about making the app Drawer a place where the user can pin an application to -- as in, every time they boot the device, their chosen app runs and its window is positioned inside the Drawer element. That way you've always got one app which you can drag out.

This is also the case for making the "area that shows when no apps are running" (you might call it the desktop, but it doesn't work like that right now, I'll call it the Background) a place where a running app window can be placed.

Ultimately, any of these are possible. There are questions that need to be answered as always:

What happens if the special app crashes?
How do you get back to the special app? (irrelevant in the case of the drawer)
How does the user set it up?
What if someone sets up an app that can't actually launch other apps?
What happens when the display size changes? Changes back?
Who's gonna answer these questions and code the solution?

The people being paid to work on Ubuntu Touch have bigger fish to fry right now: Ubuntu Touch must become based on Ubuntu 20.04, and we must pay back technical debt accrued since 2012 to do so. Ubuntu Touch must have VoLTE support soon, else our phones will become unusable as phones. So we've got our work cut out for us. A solution that makes the Drawer or Background a customizable app area could exist, and it could even work. But then, changes to Lomiri (and system-settings, and anything else you need to touch to make this possible) must be carefully self-tested and user-tested. We require this to keep Ubuntu Touch running smoothly. It's a lot of work, but it's doable. Who will be the one to do it?

marlboro50

No thanks, I already own an Android device, that's the reason I'm switching. I'm looking forward to a convergent device running the same OS and software on any computer, with the ability to run regular desktop programs when connected to a large screen.

xekuta747

@robthebold Thank you for exactly replying to the core of my post. If the goal is to provide a platform for pet pictures, I confirm that it is achieved and the job is well done. :beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Pulsar33

@xekuta747 : no, the goal isn't to provide a platform for pet pictures but the minimal need is what we have today, a background picture and a drawer. @UniSuperBox has replied to the core of your question about what else could be done but nobody has [time + knowledge] to do it today. And whatever is added to the desktop must be optional because the current situation is agreed by many people who don't want more than this.
BR
Pulsar33

Keneda

@pulsar33 said in "Desktop" should be background-picture + Icons:

must be optional because the current situation is agreed by many people who don't want more than this.
BR

I can't imagine an other way that make custom home/desktop optional, if made, and i believe no one can.
But if you take a look at how many downloads gets Home and Launcher Modular, you'll understand many people want more than a "pet show"

Now wouldn't that be a good thing that devs from thoses apps want/can contribute directly to port those features to core OS ?