“Unity” the default GUI developed by Canonical for it’s Ubuntu operating system is sure to get Linux enthusiasts talking. It is loved by some and reviled by others. It seems that there is a lot of semi inaccurate info out there about the interface. What I would like to hear is some accurate discussion of it’s day to day use and how to’s from someone who is a regular user. Not necessarily a power user, and certainly not a non user. I guess, it would be somebody like me. So, with that in mind I will now attempt to discuss Unity. It’s day to day use. Some tips or tricks and customization options. I will try to do it from a typical users perspective. This may take several posts. If you have any questions, suggestions or even corrections please feel free to comment. I’m sure it will help me with the process. After all, I’m a user, not an expert. And I’m sure I’ll be learning a few things as well.
Anyway, here goes.
The Unity Desktop.
Unity is a “shell” on top of Gnome 3 and is one of several alternatives that can be used with Gnome. It’s presently at version 5.8 in the Ubuntu 12.04 beta. It’s aim appears to be to create an interface that will work uniformly across many devices. They hope that it will eventually be used on PC’s, laptops, tablets, phones and even TV.
My Unity Desktop.
The image above shows how my personal Unity desktop looks on the Ubuntu 12.04 beta. I have set a custom wallpaper and chosen a custom theme and icon set. I have heard many complain that it is not customizable. As you can see that isn’t the case. We will cover that subject more a little later. The default will work fine for most users.
When using Unity on a day to day basis the main areas to be aware of are the “Panel”, “Dash” and “Launcher”.
The Launcher, Dash and Panel.
The Launcher.
The most obvious of the three is the launcher area on the left of the desktop. This area has icons that represent your most commonly used applications along with the “Dash” icon and the trash icon. It will also show mounted devices such as hard disks and flash drives by default. The icons on the launcher can be removed if not wanted and others can be added to the launcher with some simple actions by the user. To remove an unwanted icon you would right click on the icon and select “Unlock from Launcher”. Like this,
Remove an icon from the Launcher.
If you would like to put an icon for your favorite application on the launcher you do almost the same thing. Open the application by searching for it in the “Dash”. (More on this in a moment.) Then right click on the icon that appears in the dash and select “Lock to Launcher” Just as simple.
Adding an icon to the Launcher.
Another important feature is the small indicators that indicate an applications status in the launcher. They are small white arrows and can be seen in several of the screen shots. They are an indicator that an application is open as well as an indication of the app being open more then once. Multiple arrows indicates multiple windows or occurrences of that application. If you click on the icon it will show you small previews of the windows that are open. (I believe this view is called Expo) If you click on one of them you will go to that window.
Applications indicators.
Expo multi application view.
The Dash.
Finding the application you want to use is also fairly simple. Applications can be found via several options. Clicking on the “Dash” icon and typing in the name of the application is the first. The search bar will bring up anything that it thinks matches what your looking for. This might include applications, files, recent downloads etc.
You can also choose to click on what is known as a “Lens”. They are located across the bottom of the dash. There are default lenses installed in the dash and others are being created all the time by users and application developers. They can be added from outside sources. This will limit what your search brings up. As an example you can click on the applications lens and get only recently used applications, installed applications and applications that are available to download from the Software Center. At that point you can continue entering a search term or by clicking “See more results” you can browse through icons for all the installed applications. Clicking one of the icons will launch the application. This works well if you know what the name of the application is. The searching from the search bar helps to find applications with keywords when you aren’t sure of the name. As an example, “edit” will bring up icons for the Text Editor, Gimp image editor, GParted partition editor and the like. If they are installed they will be at the top of the results under “Applications”. If not, they will be under “Apps Available for Download”. Clicking an installed application will open it. Clicking one of the available applications will launch the Software Center so that you can install the application and use it. With use this system becomes quite simple to use and you will rarely actually finish typing a search before seeing it pop up in the results. I find that as you add icons to the launcher you will search even less.
The Dash.
The Panel.
The “Panel” is the bar across the top of the desktop. It is the place where you will find the “indicators” for various services and functions of the system. There are indicators for System settings, logging in or out, switching users, the calendar, the time, network status and options, sound controls and a messaging menu. It is possible to add indicators such as a weather indicator to this area as well. (The Weather indicator is available in the Software Center) When windows or applications are running their top menus appear along the top left of the panel. They disappear after a few seconds but will reappear if the mouse is brought into that area of the panel. As you switch from window to window the menu in the panel follows you. It becomes the menu of the window you are working in. These are referred to as the “Global Menu”
Global Menu for Nautilus file browser.
Well, as you can see there is quite a lot of functionality in the Unity desktop. Most of it works pretty smoothly. And like any other desktop environment, once you get it the way you want it, it’s really quite nice. Although this may have seemed like a lot to get through at first if you go at it slowly you will find it’s not as complicated as it might seem.
There are more areas to cover such as the “HUD” or heads up display that can be used as a mouse free alternative to the global menu. Maximizing and minimizing windows. Opening the same application more then once as well as multiple workspace usage. (Not to mention customizations) I will try to cover these areas at my next opportunity. Let me know what you think. What you want to hear about in Unity. If you learned anything new or have a question (Or a correction) I’d like to hear that too. I hope you find this post useful and help to spread some helpful information on Unity to those who are interested in learning about it.
And, with a little luck we’ll all learn something. 
) I ordered a silicone sleeve for it before I even received it as well as a screen protector. I had both on my previous and felt they were a must have for the new device as well.
