GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 711407
The location bar uses a hardcoded fixed size
Last modified: 2014-02-11 16:34:42 UTC
The location bar should use all the unused space in the toolbar. The fixed size is too small for many long urls and there's a lot of space in the toolbar unused anyway.
It is the new design - small location bar and many space for drag the window. I hope I chose the right status for the bug.
I know it's the new design, that's why I opened the bug report, I don't see why it's enough reason to close it as wontfix. Could you at least explain why the new design uses a fixed size for the location bar instead of using the unused space? I have already patched my ephy to not use the fixed size, and there's still enough space to drag the window (and there are other ways of dragging the window). I think the problem of dragging/minimize/maximize the window is a general issue of the header bar, and using a fixed size for the location bar looks like a workaround to this problem to me.
OK, reopened.
(In reply to comment #2) > I know it's the new design, that's why I opened the bug report, I don't see why > it's enough reason to close it as wontfix. Could you at least explain why the > new design uses a fixed size for the location bar instead of using the unused > space? As explained in comment 2, the primary reason for not expanding the location bar is to provide space for dragging the header bar. The fixed width of the location bar is a nice improvement for the overall experience though - it softens the appearance of the header bar, and reduces the visual prominence of the address bar. This makes it easier to concentrate on page content and provides a more relaxed browsing experience. Additionally, the full URL isn't used all that often, so an address bar that fills the entire available width wouldn't be that much more useful. Most of the time the location bar is used to search, and you can still easily access the end of a long address if you need to. > I have already patched my ephy to not use the fixed size, and there's > still enough space to drag the window How? >(and there are other ways of dragging the > window). Which are you thinking of? > I think the problem of dragging/minimize/maximize the window is a > general issue of the header bar, and using a fixed size for the location bar > looks like a workaround to this problem to me. Why is "dragging/minimize/maximize" an issue?
(In reply to comment #4) > (In reply to comment #2) > > I know it's the new design, that's why I opened the bug report, I don't see why > > it's enough reason to close it as wontfix. Could you at least explain why the > > new design uses a fixed size for the location bar instead of using the unused > > space? > > As explained in comment 2, the primary reason for not expanding the location > bar is to provide space for dragging the header bar. > > The fixed width of the location bar is a nice improvement for the overall > experience though - it softens the appearance of the header bar, and reduces > the visual prominence of the address bar. This makes it easier to concentrate > on page content and provides a more relaxed browsing experience. > > Additionally, the full URL isn't used all that often, so an address bar that > fills the entire available width wouldn't be that much more useful. Most of the > time the location bar is used to search, and you can still easily access the > end of a long address if you need to. I guess I use the location bar differently then. > > I have already patched my ephy to not use the fixed size, and there's > > still enough space to drag the window > > How? Just removed the fixed size, I haven't submitted the patch because I assumed the fixed size was a design decision, so I wanted to start the discussion first. > >(and there are other ways of dragging the > > window). > > Which are you thinking of? ALT + click anywhere in the window, for example. > > I think the problem of dragging/minimize/maximize the window is a > > general issue of the header bar, and using a fixed size for the location bar > > looks like a workaround to this problem to me. > > Why is "dragging/minimize/maximize" an issue? Because there aren't buttons for those anymore so it's not obvious how to do them. How can a user know that the window can be maximized by double clicking in the toolbar? I don't even know how to minimize the window.
Maybe a middle point would be to keep the reduced size of the location bar and expand it when it gets the focus? If that could be done with an animation would be even greater. Just my 2 cents.
Sorry for the slow response... (In reply to comment #5) ... > > Additionally, the full URL isn't used all that often, so an address bar that > > fills the entire available width wouldn't be that much more useful. Most of the > > time the location bar is used to search, and you can still easily access the > > end of a long address if you need to. > > I guess I use the location bar differently then. ... The point I was trying to make was that, for a lot of people, the location bar is synonymous with search. Sorry if overstated the case - there are obviously plenty of other people who do hand edit their URLs, of course. > > >(and there are other ways of dragging the > > > window). > > > > Which are you thinking of? > > ALT + click anywhere in the window, for example. Thats' not very discoverable, unfortunately. > > > I think the problem of dragging/minimize/maximize the window is a > > > general issue of the header bar, and using a fixed size for the location bar > > > looks like a workaround to this problem to me. > > > > Why is "dragging/minimize/maximize" an issue? > > Because there aren't buttons for those anymore so it's not obvious how to do > them. How can a user know that the window can be maximized by double clicking > in the toolbar? I don't even know how to minimize the window. In my experience people do figure out how to maximise, either by dragging to the top or using the right click window menu. I'm not really sure that minimize makes sense under GNOME 3, although it is still there under the same context menu. People really seem like like to right click, for some reason... :)
(In reply to comment #7) > Sorry for the slow response... > > (In reply to comment #5) > ... > > > Additionally, the full URL isn't used all that often, so an address bar that > > > fills the entire available width wouldn't be that much more useful. Most of the > > > time the location bar is used to search, and you can still easily access the > > > end of a long address if you need to. > > > > I guess I use the location bar differently then. > ... > > The point I was trying to make was that, for a lot of people, the location bar > is synonymous with search. Sorry if overstated the case - there are obviously > plenty of other people who do hand edit their URLs, of course. > > > > >(and there are other ways of dragging the > > > > window). > > > > > > Which are you thinking of? > > > > ALT + click anywhere in the window, for example. > > Thats' not very discoverable, unfortunately. Agree. > > > > I think the problem of dragging/minimize/maximize the window is a > > > > general issue of the header bar, and using a fixed size for the location bar > > > > looks like a workaround to this problem to me. > > > > > > Why is "dragging/minimize/maximize" an issue? > > > > Because there aren't buttons for those anymore so it's not obvious how to do > > them. How can a user know that the window can be maximized by double clicking > > in the toolbar? I don't even know how to minimize the window. > > In my experience people do figure out how to maximise, either by dragging to > the top or using the right click window menu. I'm not really sure that minimize > makes sense under GNOME 3, although it is still there under the same context > menu. Very useful when you use the window-list extension :-) > People really seem like like to right click, for some reason... :) Ah!, I didn't even know that the window options are now available by right clicking in the toolbar/headerbar.
I also agree that the fixed width URL bar is much worse, URLs more often than not exceed the space allocated for the URL bar however there is a lot of unused space. To drag I always used the space around the forward and back buttons or above the URL bar however perhaps it might be a good idea to expend the bar and leave a small amount of free space to the right hand side to provide a bigger grab area but still taking advantage of a large proportion of the now wasted space.
*** Bug 708970 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 711408 ***