“Task Pooper” could revolutionize GNOME desktop

“The GNOME community’s design and usability experts gathered for
a week-long hackfest hosted by Canonical in the UK to shape the
next major iteration of the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME 3,
which is tentatively scheduled for release in September, will
introduce new user interface paradigms and include an upgraded
desktop shell environment.

“The participants at the hackfest are aiming to improve the
usability of existing applications, enhance the look and feel of
the desktop with new theming concepts, and brainstorm ideas for
extending the functionality of the new shell. They are actively
publishing mockups, design documentation, usability notes, and
other materials that provide insight into their vision for the
future of GNOME. By reading all of this material, I was able to get
an understanding of their goals and plans.

“A shiny vision

“The highly excitable Seth Nickell—an interaction design
consultant who previously worked at Red Hat and participated in the
OLPC project—has documented some of the concepts that the
hackfest participants assembled over the course of the week. The
document, which is written in a style that resembles a perverse
mashup of the Dhammapada and Timecube, describes new user interface
elements such as the “Task Pooper” that could potentially appear in
future versions of GNOME.”

Complete Story