Ubuntu 11.04: Overlay Scrollbars

Another domain where Ubuntu a step ahead is in the new “overlay” scrollbars. A similar was announced previous to their implementation by Apple. Simply put, overlay scrollbars are very thin lines that cannot be dragged and that replace the scrollbars. They are similar to those found in mobile devices such as iPods and iPhones; in fact, The Ubuntu team says that mobile devices is where they have found their inspiration from. Instead, you may say that they have been inspired by Apple’s announcement, even if Ubuntu’s scrollbars are maybe more interesting. Indeed, the overlay scrollbars seem to have gotten there inspiration not from iOS devices, but from a more obscure source: the late Google Wave.

The scrollbars, if you can still call them that, are Ubuntu orange when the window is selected, and light grey when not. They move up and down (or left and right) and change size like classical scrollbars would, but you cannot “grab” directly. For that reason, a handle appears when you get close to the scrollbar Clicking and dragging the handle will move the scrollbar naturally, and clicking on the buttons will move one step up or down.

Overall, the new scrollbars are a great idea, and the implementation is quite good if not to the level as was that of Google Wave. In Google wave, the scrollbars were more fluid, more aesthetically pleasing and overall simpler to use. I would strongly recommend Canonical’s design team to take cues from Google with their Ayatana overlay scrollbars.

The biggest problems with these scrollbars is inconsistency. A lot of system applications are designed with the default toolkit, and they have seamlessly transitioned to the overlay scrollbars. Non GTK applications, however, still use the old scrollbars. This is the case for a lot of the most used applications on Ubuntu, such as LibreOffice (OpenOffice.org), Firefox, and Google Chrome, but also some Linux-specific programs. Additionally, Ubuntu has added a black scrollbar to the terminal–which admittedly looked extremely ugly with the old scrollbars–instead of transitioning the application to the overlay scrollbars. A disappointment to say the least, and an annoyance I hope they will eliminate in the next version

Go back to Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” Review

 

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  • Quincunx55555

    I’ve heard people complaining about these, and didn’t understand why.  I think they are great with one BIG exception.  It is very common for me to click on a scroll bar in some arbitrary space above, or below, the thumbnail (that’s the name of the slider thingy).  This is the typical way I “page down” or “page up”, and this action cannot be performed with this new style of scroll bar.  Instead I have to hunt down where the overlay is in order to use it for paging causing a longer path with the mouse.

  • Markk

    I tried the overlay scrollbars for about a week and HATED them.  They didn’t work well for me with lots of windows on the screen.  I was slowed me down by having to hover the mouse in the right position for them to be used and if I clicked incorrectly one of the windows behind came to the front.  Disabling the overlay scrollbars returned most windows (but not all) to the old style so I have now uninstalled them.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/madjesta Phillip Madjester Whelan

    I agree with both of you, the new overlay scrollbars are a PITA, and their largest flaw is that you have to hunt for the ‘sweet spot’ before using them.

    Seriously, they should add an option that allows you to disable them (is there a gconf magic key for this? why does that remind me of some other borked OS?) and they should also allow you to scroll no matter where you click on the vertical or horizontal planes. Maybe snap magically to where your mouse is?

    I don’t know… I’m not a UI expert, but my opinion is that neither were the folks designing this. Smart, clever people perhaps, but not seasoned, experienced and grumpy experts that’s for sure.

  • ddexter

    I hate these stupid overlay scrollars. Trying now to uninstall them.

  • Elzoog

    I think that Jesus invented the overlay scrollbars so that instead of making people fishers of men, he could make them fishers of the scroll handle.   With overlay scrollbars, I have to fish around on the right side of the screen if I want to find the handle to drag up and down. 

    Also, with the older scroll bars, I could mouse to a place on the side below the handle and click to go one page down, or above the handle and click to go one page up.   If I don’t know exactly where the handle is in the overlay scrollbars, then how do I do a one mouse click to go one page up or down?

  • Elzoog

    The “hunt down” is the key phrase for why people hate them.   Any time I have to “find” something is to me wasted time.   With the old scroll bars, it’s clear where the handle is and clear where the areas above and below the handles are.  If an interface is well designed, I should be able to look at the interface and be able to figure out how to do things just by the clues on the screen.   Overlay scroll bars violates that since not only do I have to fish for the handle, if there are any special ways of using them without trying to grab the handle with the mouse I would have to search on the internet to find them.  

  • Baban Gaigole

     heres a quick trick to remove overlay scrollbar in ubuntu 11.10 at http://hashprompt.blogspot.com

  • marzzbar

    Probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. What annoyed me the most was how in some applications the SCROLLBAR HANDLE DIDN’T APPEAR when you moused over it. Why fix something that wasn’t broken, only to go and break it? 
    I guess that’s the good thing about linux, you can modify it as much as you want. I promptly uninstalled this annoying feature. Gotta say though, having not tried ubuntu for months and then trying it again recently, I’m pretty unimpressed. It’s been the top desktop distro for years now, and it’s STILL fiddly and doesn’t work well out of the box. I hear Linux Mint is much more user-friendly. I hope so. I’ll have to give it a go.