Ubuntu Unity: Demystified

As you might already know, Unity is the new shell for Ubuntu 11.04 which was released a couple of days ago. Unity is a part of the Ayatana project and is developed by Canonical Ltd, the official sponsors of Ubuntu. Since the announcement of the project in 2010, Unity has generated a lot of buzz in the Linux world. While Unity 3.8.10 has received mixed reviews, let us look at Unity in detail and see why it is a step forward. Ubuntu Unity has two versions: Unity 3D (for harware that support 3d acceleration) andUnity 2D (for older hardware). As of now, Ubuntu 11.04 does not include Unity 2D by default, but uses classic GNOME as a fallback system. We are therefore going to concentrate on Unity 3D.

We've divided Unity into the following parts:

One of the key components of the Unity design is the Dash. It is meant to be a replacement for the Applications, Places and System of GNOME 2. The Dash uses an intelligent technology called Zeitgeist, which is responsible for more relevant search results. By using Zeitgeist, Ubuntu knows what applications you use frequently and makes sure they are available at your fingertips when you search for them. Clicking on the Ubuntu icon at the top left of the screen reveales the dash. The dash is resizable (for desktops) while it occupies the full screen for smaller devices. Besides having a search bar, dash also has options to browse files, applications, check emails, browse the web or listen to music. (Large icons make it suitable for touch-based devices).

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The Unity dash: nice and simple

Only the top panel is present in Unity. With the removal of the bottom panel, the user gets more screen space (this is especially beneficial for netbooks). The panel has a redesigned indicator area with a new sound menu, clock and sessions menu. Another important feature is the presence of the window controls on the menu itself for maximised applications.Ubuntu softwares now have a unified global menu on the panel (a lot like Mac).

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The launcher is definitely a killer feature. The launcher, present at the left of the screen,provides a replacement for the standard window lists for managing running apps as well as opening new windows. Moving the mouse over the Ubuntu button or by hovering the mouse near the left edge of the screen reveals the launcher. New applications can be added by simply dragging them from the dash onto the launcher.

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The launcher icons get stacked when there is lack of space

A cool feature of the launcher is that when you drag a file onto the launcher, only the applications which can open the file are highlighted.

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Dragging a file to the launcher only highlights the application which can open the file

You can open a new window for a particular app by middle clicking on its icon. To view all the windows of an application, click on the application icon.

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Two Abiword windows were open here. Clicking on the Abiword icon showed the two windows side by side

The launcher also supports keyboard shortcuts. When you hold the super key (Windows key) for some time, numbers appear on the launcher icons (and letters appear on the lenses). Simply pressing the desired number/letter opens the application.

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After pressing the super key for some time, numbers appear on the icons.

If any application needs you attention, its icon shivers and a blue triangle appears at the corner of the Ubuntu button.

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The blue triangle at the top left indicates that an application needs your attention

You can even tweak the launcher behavior by using the Unity plugin for Compiz. Icon size, launcher behavior as well as some experimental features can be tweaked from the CompizConfig Settings Manager. Lenses are another cool feature in unity. Lenses are easy ways to access information from particular sources (for example, a YouTube lens would allow the user to search YouTube videos right from Ubuntu). Right now Ubuntu has the applications and the places lens by default, but there are other lenses in development. See here:http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/five-neat-unity-lenses-in-development/

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The Ubuntu applications lens

An Ubuntu launcher API is also in development. According to the Ubuntu wiki, the launcher is able to support quicklists, counters and progress bars.

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Chromium is just one of many applications which takes advantage of the advanced launcher features.