Unity will introduce a new desktop paradigm for most of us. Therefore alot of people may wonder how to perform their common use cases, e.g.:
- how do I open an application?
- how do I find an application?
- how do I configure my desktop?
- how do I utilize the virtual desktops in a meaningful way?
- how do I add an application to the launcher?
- how do I switch between open applications?
- how do I categorize my applications like I was used to do it in the old menu?
- how do I assign personal hotkeys (not numbers) to my favourite applications?
- and so on …
Is there a guideline or documentation available that helps users to transition to the new desktop?
Best Answer
Several of the options you have mention are something that can be found in any desktop environment like the option to switch between open applicacions (ALT-TAB, CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW...) but others are new to unity. For what i have found there is no guide yet, only a couple of helping documents. Right now this are the ones oriented to unity:
Introduction to Unity - http://design.canonical.com/2010/06/introduction-to-unity-launcher/
Unity Gestures - https://docs.google.com/View?id=dfkkjjcj_1482g457bcc7
But i have to add that Unity MIGHT not be the default for Ubuntu 11.04. Today i got a letter saying that the technical board in Ubuntu will be talking about if they should go with Gnome 3 or Unity so this might be good news for Gnome users until Unity gets better or until they fuse the work from unity to Gnome, making it much more better and not dividing the work between two good groups.
For me this are the best news ever if they do get Gnome 3 as default. It will save me from explaining a lot of people some of the changes in unity at the university.
UPDATE - Well here is the same information i got about MAYBE Ubuntu 11.04 using Gnome 3 as default - http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTMwMg