Some 18.04 Beta 1 feedback

Thoughts & Feedback
#1

Some feedback, errors and suggestions about Ubuntu MATE 18.04, using GNOME Boxes virtual machine:

Welcome Screen
The new "Customise Panels" feature on the Welcome Screen will be great for new users!

panels.png736×534 131 KB

panels2.png765×686 159 KB

It's not fully functional yet, when I applied to change the panels, they disappeared and I had to reboot by opening a terminal with right-click on the desktop and typing 'reboot'. And after boot there was just an empty panel at the bottom so I right-clicked on it and redefined it... and the 2 panels were back and working. I think I was choosing the Familiar or the Contemporary layouts.

Suggestion about MATE Tweak panel tab: add a button to go back to the Default panel.

Control Center
I can't scroll down the Control Center window, it stops scrolling in the middle/half

Files manager
Caja's left panel icons/text could be resizable by right-clicking, like Dolphin(KDE's files manager)

Desktop Icons
Suggestion... Right-click on the desktop: a new menu item could be included like "Configure desktop", a direct link to MATE Tweak's Desktop tab, so people can easily customize the desktop.

Blue icons/theme
We have green, orange, and that pale brown icons. I think there should be at least one blue icon theme on the list with blue folders... there's no blue iconset installed by default, suggestion: add Elementary icon set or another popular one like Papirus with blue folders.

Lock screen
I think there's room for improvement here, it's too simplistic and kinda ugly to be honest.

#2

The control center scrolling is a known issue: https://github.com/mate-desktop/mate-control-center/issues/306

1 Like
#3

Thank you, I’ve just commented there saying that it still happens on 1.20.

#4

I like what I’m seeing but I think to say “familiar” is a bit of a stumble due to one of the layouts being called that. Maybe rewording to “What feels most comfortable?” or “Which desktop do you like most?” would be better?

3 Likes
#5

I agree that the title could be rephrased to something else, this could be an issue for people translating, there are a lot of languages out there, I’m not sure if it will make sense to everyone.

Maybe “Choose a layout below”, it doesn’t need to be a question, or just a simple title “Customize the desktop” or similar.

1 Like
#6

Is the name of one layout Contempory instead of Contempo-ra-ry ? It’s nice to try them all from the Welcome window but some things did not work; at some selection I lost all panels, no way to bring them back so I killed the vm.

1 Like
#7

You are correct, there’s a typo there, it’s Contemporary.

Try this:

  • reboot by opening a terminal with right-click on the desktop and typing ‘reboot’ Enter
  • after boot right-click the empty bottom panel and click “Reset panel”
#8

Maybe “You can choose a layout below:” would work? That makes it a choice on the user’s part.

It might also be a good idea to have a delay and then a revert or a choose another option button for people so complete newcomers understand that more than one option is available and that it’s completely permissible to play with them all to find the right one for their own personal use?

#9

Thanks for the feedback about the title, I’ll ensure the title gets a better name. :slight_smile: I’m thinking of ditching the question for a statement – as it is the Welcome program – “A desktop for everyone’s tastes”.

The text underneath will be amended to:

Ubuntu MATE holds a wide range of customisation options, including the ability to offer a layout that is familiar towards your workflow. You can choose one as a starting point and make further changes to it later.

This should hopefully provide the hint to new MATE users that these are not “fixed” options and that it’s possible to configure panels and applets later.

Definitely a typo :slight_smile:

On my (relatively clean) VM of the 18.04 daily build, panels have been switching without a problem. There were only minor quirks like all windows minimising (usually when switching between dock-based panels).

This feature literally executes MATE Tweak, so you could see if switching panels works OK there normally.

Clicking a panel will apply it straight away, so I’m not sure on a delay timer/revert option in addition.

4 Likes
#10

More issues I've just found:

  • Welcome Screen Customize Panels: Redmond layout puts the panel on top instead of bottom
  • Drag and drop icons from the Familiar menu to the desktop or right-click the icon and 'pin to desktop' are not working, I rebooted and my desktop was like a work of art, look at the icons, specially Firefox, is huge for no reason... so they were being moved to the desktop but were not showing up, they were hidden(but the default system icons on the left were showing up normally, minus the Terminal that I think I've pinned):

desktop.png938×704 864 KB

#11

Wouldn’t it be better to match the menu names and desktop layouts to avoid confusion?
I find them very confusing, suggestion:

  • Brisk Menu --> Contemporary/Familiar/Pantheon Menu
  • Brisk Menu Launcher --> Cupertino/Mutiny menu
  • Main Menu --> Netbook menu
  • MATE Menu --> Redmond menu
  • Menu Bar --> Traditional menu

This is useful when you are adding a menu on a panel(right-click, Add to Panel…).

#12

OK, I really like that because it emphasizes choice. That’s definitely what we want to encourage for those who want to explore and want to customize their environment. This is some great wording there.

Right, I understand that it applies immediately–I was making a suggestion that some sort of dialog be added as a ‘don’t panic’ message similar to how changing display resolution works. This way if people make a change and hate it there’s a button they can hit to immediately revert to whatever the previous layout was. I think it’d take some of the feeling of risk out.

#13

Preferred Applications(Control Center) icons are messed up.

Tabs: Internet, Multimedia and Office, rest is fine.

apss.png1234×362 94.2 KB

Control Panel icons have different sizes, Bluetooth Manager icon is too small:

control_center.png945×676 128 KB

Mate 18.04 Inconsistent icon sizes
#14

Providing the capacity, on first boot, to choose panel layouts in the welcome screen is very impressive and entirely on-point with regards to providing choice.

I am properly impressed.

1 Like
#15

About the Help, the 'blue box+light green font' are a bad choice of colors, there should be more contrast so it's easier to read, please change that:

help.png477×555 54.1 KB

1 Like
#16
  • Mutiny menu(Brisk Menu Launcher) button has a different icon size compared to the rest of the left dock icons
  • Backspace/clear button(after search) could have a different color(white, gray)

mutiny.png938×701 346 KB

1 Like
#17

These black lines of Brisker Menu make the menu look ugly, in my opinion they should be removed, they serve no purpose.

I've painted them with red, the left black box and the top right black line:

brisker.png781×495 86.8 KB

If they were the same color of the background the Brisker Menu would be way more beautiful.

1 Like
#18

So… That’s it, enough feedback.

This was way longer than I’ve expected at the beginning, sorry for the tons of screenshots, opinions and suggestions.

It’s not the finished distro(beta) yet and things will certainly improve until the LTS gets launched. I hope some of the points mentioned above help improve the distro for everyone.

#19

Fresh install of Ubuntu MATE 18.04 (alpha) on ASUS P8H67-M PRO, Samsung 850 EVO 150 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM, 17 GB swap area + all updates available via Software Updater

Control Center - MATE Tweak

  • missing Interface - Icons -> Show icons on buttons (used to disable this - icons on buttons is so 1990-ies)

Hibernate / Resume from Hibernate

Software Boutique

  • Etcher - Update -> installation works now
  • Virtualbox - Update -> installation works now

Redmond Layout

  • Brisk menu can be added to the panel, but cannot be moved at all - it is not placed correctly
  • saving a customised Redmond layout is possible - restoring the saved layout is a mess - only some of the icons saved to the “quick launch” panel do appear, others don’t (same issue on Ubuntu MATE 17.10 for some months now)

(to be updated…)

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Progress report as we approach 18.04 Beta 2
#20

I use to use that option too. You can still change it using gsettings:

gsettings set org.mate.interface buttons-have-icons false