UbuntuControlCenterSpec

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Summary

A control center that displays the many configuration utilities in a more organized and usable way.

Rationale

Currently all the system utilities are not displayed in an organized way, and there is no central application where all system utilities can be found.

A control center would make system utilities much easier to find and it would be much more user friendly.

Use cases

Alan would like to see what changes he can make to his system. He opens up Ubuntu Control Center and all the system configuration utilities are displayed to him in a categorized format.

Miriam wants to change how her system looks. She opens up Ubuntu Control Center and selects the 'Look and Feel' category, this displays all the available configuration utilities for changing the look and feel of her system.

Steven wants to quickly find a configuration utility. He opens up Ubuntu Control Center and uses the 'Filter' function to find the utility he is looking for.

Scope

A more organized and user friendly way of displaying and launching system utilities.

Design

An interface will be used to display and launch the utilities in the control center. This will allow more intuitive access to the many system utilities available and also make utilities easier to locate. The user will be able to find what they need based on a general category, or by using a search function within the control center.

Implementation

A user interface will display the system utilities in a categorized way. A XML file will be used to store which utilities will be displayed, and their appropriate categories. The utilities' names and descriptions will be gathered from the appropriate .desktop files.

3rd party utilities will be able to be added to a 'Custom' category, or added to a second XML file which will hold the details of 3rd party utilities and their appropriate category. Utilities not listed in a XML file, but are specified as a system utility in it's .desktop file will be displayed in the 'Custom' category.

http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/2157/screenshotcontrolcenterje0.png http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/3121/screenshotcontrolcenternd0.png

Data preservation and migration

Nothing would need to be changed or removed.

Unresolved issues

There is currently no unresolved issues.

BoF agenda and discussion


CategorySpec

UbuntuControlCenterSpec (last edited 2008-08-06 16:24:04 by localhost)