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Unity Home Screen

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Rationale

The Home screen is the default view that users see when they begin their UNE session or view the Dash. It provides quick access to installed applications and aggregated search from all places.

As the default view of UNE, the Home screen displays controls that bring the user to the Applications place to browse and discover installed applications. The Home screen also aggregates search results from other places, and encourages the user to visit those places when appropriate to continue searching.

Default View

The default view of the Home screen displays eight "activities". Activities make it easy for a user to dive into browsing available applications the moment they being interacting with their Ubuntu Netbook.

{{attachment:Default View.png}}

2.1 Search Hint

The search hint is "Search".

2.2 Activities

Eight activities are displayed in two rows centered on the Home screen. Their purpose is to quickly engage users with the applications and capabilities of their Ubuntu Netbooks:

1. Web

2. Music

3. Videos

4. Photos

5. Work

6. Email & Chat

7. Games

8. Get New Apps

Each activity is represented by:

Web Activity

Music Activity

Videos Activity

Photos Activity

Work Activity

Email & Chat Activity

Games Activity

Get New Apps Activity

Search View

2.3 Groups

{{attachment:Search View.png}}

Groups for each place returning search results are displayed in the order they appear in the Places bar (eventually, we will want to order groups by "relevance," but the fixed ordering described will be used for Lucid). Each place displays only one row of results by default, with no minimize or maximize buttons in the group header. The number of rows of results may expand according to the maximization algorithm described in the main Places specification.

Applications

Search results in this group are identical to the results available in the Applications place search view, except that the Installed and Ubuntu Software Center ("Available") groups presented in the Applications place search view are presented as a single group here. Installed items are displayed before Ubuntu Software Center items.

Files

Search results in this group are identical to the Top Results group in the Files place search view.

Settings

{{attachment:Search View - Settings.png}}

Search results for this group are determined by searching the names, descriptions, and translated string files of applications in the "System" and "Settings" categories. Results available in this group should be a subset of the settings applications available in the Control Center.

As this group is displayed last, it is displayed fully expanded by default.

Appearance of Settings Items

Settings items use the same appearance as results in the Applications group:

System Tools are not Settings

Some applications in the System category have been traditionally represented as "Settings" or "Administration" applications but should be excluded here:

These results will appear in the Applications group, as they belong to the System Tools section in the Applications place.

2.4 More Results Button

At the bottom of each group containing search results provided by a place is a button to continue the current search in that specific place.

For example, the user begins a search for a document named "taxes" on the Home screen. The Files place displays only one row of four results in its group on the Home screen, but provides a button to "Show 12 more results" because the Files place has found a total of (4 + 12 =) sixteen results. The user clicks the More Results button, and is taken to the Files place where a search for "taxes" is executed automatically and all sixteen results for the query are displayed.

Use Cases

2.5 Navigating the default view with the keyboard

{{{

Level Fish

Primary Actor Netbook User

Other Actors None

Trigger The Netbook User opens the Home screen in its default state

Preconditions None

Success End Condition The Netbook User can access the Search Entry and Activities by pressing Tab

Failure Conditions None

}}}

Primary Scenario

1. By default, keyboard focus resides in the Search Entry as it does with the Files place and Applications place.

2. First Tab keeps keyboard focus in the Search Entry but makes this focus apparent by clearing the search hint and displaying a blinking cursor in the Search Entry.

3. Another Tab brings keyboard focus to the grid of activities, selecting the first one.

4. Another Tab returns keyboard focus to the Search Entry.

USE CASE ENDS

2.6 Accessing applications using the Activity tiles

{{{

Level Fish

Primary Actor Netbook User

Other Actors Applications Place

Trigger None

Preconditions The Netbook User is viewing the Home screen

Success End Condition The Netbook User is brought to the appropriate category in the

Failure Conditions None

}}}

Primary Scenario

1. The Netbook User clicks on an activity representing a category in the Applications place (any activity but "Get New Apps").

2. The Applications place is opened, with the appropriate section selected to display the chosen category of applications.

USE CASE ENDS

2.7 Beginning a search, then transferring search to another place

{{{

Level Fish

Primary Actor Netbook User

Other Actors None

Trigger None

Preconditions The Netbook User is viewing the Home screen

Success End Condition The Netbook User is brought to the search view in another place

Failure Conditions None

}}}

Primary Scenario

1. To begin searching for Thunderbird, the Netbook User may simply type "email" while viewing the Home screen; clicking the Search Field to focus input there is optional.

2. The search view is revealed, and search results for "email" begin to appear.

3. The Netbook User clicks the "See All 12 Results" button below the Applications group.

4. The Netbook User is brought to the search view for "email" in Applications Place.

USE CASE ENDS

2.8 Searching for a Settings program

{{{

Level Fish

Primary Actor Netbook User

Other Actors None

Trigger None

Preconditions The Netbook User is viewing the Home screen

Success End Condition The Power Settings program is launched

Failure Conditions Power Settings is not found by the search

}}}

Primary Scenario

1. To begin searching for Power Settings, the Netbook User begins to type "power settings" into the Search Field.

2. The search view is revealed, and search results for "Power Settings" begin to appear.

3. The Netbook User finds Power Settings in the Settings group, and clicks to launch it.

USE CASE ENDS

3.b Variation: Power Settings is not found by the search

1. If Power Settings is not found, the Netbook User can edit the query string to try another search.

RETURN TO 2

2.9 Clearing the Search

{{{

Level Fish

Primary Actor Netbook User

Other Actors None

Trigger None

Preconditions The Netbook User is viewing search results

Success End Condition The Netbook User returns to the Home screen

Failure Conditions None

}}}

Primary Scenario

1. The Netbook User deletes the query string by any means (e.g. pressing backspace, pressing escape, or pressing the clear button in the search field).

2. The default view of the Home screen is shown.

USE CASE ENDS

1.b Variation: The Netbook User clicks the Home place icon in the places bar

1. The Netbook User clicks the Home place icon in the places bar.

RETURN TO 2

Visual Design

2.10 Visual Treatments Needed

2.11 Icons Needed

User Stories

2.12 Celine

Celine opens her netbook and goes to her Home screen. Her netbook battery has not been lasting very long lately, and a colleague told her that changing her battery settings to a low power mode may help. Celine isn't quite sure where to find the battery settings on her netbook, so she just types "battery" into the search field. As the search completes, "Power Settings" appears in the Settings group. "This looks promising," Celine thinks to herself. Celine clicks on the item and Power Settings opens.

2.13 Lola

Lola is searching for a PDF she quoted from in her thesis. She types "Kumagai Benson" -- the author's names -- in the default search field, and sees that there are ten results in the Files place. Lola clicks the button labeled "Show all results" button in the Files group to transfer her search to the Files place, where she quickly locates the document.

2.14 Joseph

Joseph wants to show his friends some of the cool social networking applications he's installed on his netbook. From the home screen, Joseph clicks on the "Web" activity and his Internet applications are displayed.

2.15 Mikhail

Mikhail wants to know if there's any software bundled with Ubuntu Netbook Edition that can help monitor and analyze network traffic. From the home screen, Mikhail types "network" in the search field, and sees that there are ten network-related applications and some interesting network-related results in the Settings group.

2.16 Federico

Federico borrowed a projector from his school and wants to install Stellarium so he can project constellations on the ceiling of his bedroom. He types "stellarium" in the search field from the Home screen, and a single result by the same name appears in the Applications group. Federico clicks the result, which opens the Ubuntu Software Center, where he easily installs Stellarium.