[Bug 28798] new logout dialog interface issues

[Sean Middleditch]

Public bug reported:
https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/28798

Affects: gnome-session (Ubuntu)
       Severity: Normal
       Priority: (none set)
         Status: Unconfirmed

Description:
The new logout dialog has several issues which make it confusing or
inconvenient.

The first problem is the location of the buttons.  In all GNOME dialogs,
the main action button is the bottom right button.  However, with the
new dialog, the "main" action button "Logout" (for most corporate and
many home users) is in the upper left corner of the dialog.  Before even
reading the text of the buttons, users are in the habit of moving the
mouse to that bottom right corner, only to then realize that none of the
actions they want are anywhere near that corner.

The second problem is that in addition to the 6 action buttons, there is
also a regular style Cancel button.  This makes a completely alien and
consistency-breaking dialog *look* normal.  It also compounds the
previous problem as users start moving the mouse towards that regular-
looking button before they even realize what it is.

The third problem is the artificial, and likely unintentional, grouping
of the buttons.  The actions are split into two rows.  Even if this was
merely a stylistic issue of trying to get a 2x3 grid, the addition of
the separator makes the rows *appear* to be two conceptually separate
sections.  Yet we see that there are four buttons dealing with powering
the machine, one of which is grouped with the session management buttons
in the top row.  This is confusing.  It also makes finding the button
you want difficult, since they aren't put in any sort of meaningful
contextual pattern.

A large issue with the dialog is that there are simply far too many
buttons.  Six is too many.  I would suggest either cutting out some of
the buttons (do we really need Hibernate and Suspend, when those should
be enacted by physical actions like closing a laptop lid or pressing a
power button?) or splitting the dialog up and adding another menu entry
to the System menu in addition to Log Out.  Or just sucking it up and
going back to the stock GNOME dialog where at least things are
consistent and clean and make sense.