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@tbernard @verdre@floss.social @fmuellner Hey Tobias, in that screenshot, what app are you in and how can you find out just by looking at the screen?

(I can’t help but think this is a huge step backwards in terms of usability. Multiple workspaces is a power feature. Knowing which app you’re in, especially when apps themselves don’t even tell you, is basic usability. I simply don’t understand the rationale behind this design choice.)

@aral What we've found across a number of research exercises over the years is that:

- Basically nobody uses the app menu, either as a menu or as a focus indicator
- New people are often confused by the app menu, thinking that it's a taskbar/app switcher
- The app menu makes it harder for people to find Activities, because it's right next to it and visually more prominent

Try it for a few days, most people very quickly forget the app menu ever existed :)

@tbernard I understand you’ve done some studies but can you please answer my question: How can you tell which app you’re in by looking at the screen in GNOME?

You see how that’s a fundamental landmark that’s currently missing, right?

@aral I opened the apps, why would I be confused about what app I'm in?

If this was a fundamental landmark people would be using it as such, which is not what we've found in practice...

@tbernard Because you opened them this morning and now you’re back from lunch. Because the three browsers and two editors you use all look almost identical. For the same reason that when you switch to an app, the accessibility system speaks its name. Because having the person using your system know where they are at all times (“you are here”) is such a cornerstone of interaction design that I’m surprised I actually have to make the case for it.

For anyone following this thread, if you use #GNOME and want the name of the app you’re currently in to be shown to you, you can use the Just Perfection GNOME extension (thank goodness for extensions) to do so.

It makes absolutely no sense to me that there is no way to look at your screen and know which app you’re in in GNOME. The ‘you are here’ landmark is so foundational that you’d fail Interaction Design 101 were you to forget it.

@aral I think it's a workflow issue, in the GNOME workflow it doesn't make sense to provide app information from the desktop. Only productivity utilities are provided in the top bar right?

All the app icons, app menu, app names, management etc are separate in the overview area.

This helps streamline the workflow i suppose