Maverick Software centre adds animated apps bar

By , Published June 10, 2010

Disclaimer: The screenshots and video contained herein are of an 'in-development' application and as such do represent nor constitute the final, end product.

The Ubuntu Software Centre continues to excite with it's development as it errs ever closer to the draft goals.softwarecenter

Today saw a rather exciting new update to the 'featured apps bar' we mentioned a few days back- it's now animated! Sliding through all of the feature apps in turn it is both eye-catching and informative. Cycled applications can be clicked on, arrows allow you to cycle back and forth in case an app catches your eye and the animated bar can be collapsed if so wished.

A great update so early on in the development of the software store this cycle – lets hope there are no issues so it remains for all to gawp at come October.

Video of the animated bar in action. Colours are €œoff€ so squint & pretend the orangey-pink is just orange!

Image credit: Nate Wiebe

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Ubuntu Software Centre Adds 2 More ‘Featured’ Apps
  2. Lucid Software Centre Adds ‘Featured’ Gallery, PPA View
  3. 12 Days of Xmas: Day Seven – Ubuntu Software Centre
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  • Anony

    Nice.

    (I do dislike graphical branding though. If my overall theme is green I don’t much want purple and orange in my apps, you know? I don’t suppose that orange hover is picked up from the theme either?)

    • Anonymous

      Yes, that is one thing that really annoys me. Maybe I don’t want my desktop to be full of branding that I can in no way change.

      • http://cldx.blogspot.com/ Joern Konopka

        I guess its okay to have a branding for the logo, but for the hover effect, depending on your theme setup it just screams eye cancer..

    • http://twitter.com/KyleClarkeNZ Kyle Clarke

      I agree and disagree.Yes customisation is paramount in this environment. But at the same time. If you don’t like one distro use another.I mean it’s pretty clear that Ubuntu is leaning towards the consistent, branded experience. So their core programs should hold their branding, and colours are just as much branding as logos themselves.I know the next argument is going to be “this aint Max OSX or Windows” But seriously? The very fact you bring up their branding in the first place defuncts the argument on branding.

  • http://cldx.blogspot.com/ Joern Konopka

    Cool, you gotta love small things like that.

    How are they doing animations within GTK anyways? Is that Cairo? I honestly dont know. But it would be cool to see more animations used within apps,just keep a reasonable fallback for slower machines and there should be no problem (Still, i don’t know how animations are made and what is possible and what not).

    F.e. if you change your Playlist in Rhythmbox instead of just “pop in” it could slide over gracefully, just eye-candy, but eye-candy is a good way to transport professionality towards end users, guess why Win and Mac have all that bling…

    • Sebas310

      It is Cairo.

    • https://launchpad.net/~rugby471 Andrew

      Nope, its WebkitGTK using javascript animations

  • Ben

    This has been driving me nuts for a while now. I don’t know if it’s different where you are [no sarcasm], but standard written English as far as I know defines “its” and “it’s” as follows:

    its: the possessive form of it; example: the dog has a bone: its [the dog's] bone
    it’s: a contraction of “it is”; example: it is raining today: it’s raining today

    • Oldskool73

      it’s not different anywhere, it’s basic English, in fact the first line is full of fail…

      it’s = it is
      errs = to make a mistake or be incorrect / wander from a direct course or at random

      “The Ubuntu Software Centre continues to excite with it is development as it wanders on an incorrect course randomly ever closer to the draft goals.” ???

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        It don’t sit there and intentionally do it – whilst you may be martyrs of perfection, my eyes – nor my grammar/spell checker – tends to spot them when I proof read before hitting publish.

        Btw ‘Err’, in this case, is correct as ‘err’ can mean to act with bias favourably.

        • Ben

          I’m honestly curious here … do you have a source for your definition of “err”? I like discovering new words, and you inspired me to go look it up; I got an archaic definition of “to stray”, which mostly fits but isn’t quite the same as what you have (but is cool nonetheless, because I like archaic words): “stray” has more of a negative connotation. [http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?gwp=13&s=err] Apparently, it also used to be pronounced “urrr” but is now commonly pronounced “air”, at least in the US. So that was my fun word discovery for the day :)

          On another note, it would be really, really nice if you could at least check for small things like that. I know I’m probably in a minority, but seeing that virtually every day, multiple times, really drives me crazy. I would guess that throwing articles at the Ubuntu Manual mailing list (or creating your own editing mailing list) would produce some fairly rapid corrections (I for one would be willing, but I’d prefer not to be the only one for times when I’m busy elsewhere [yes, even grammar freaks spend time not correcting grammar], hence the mailing list concept). For that matter, using the new Google Docs demo edition [http://docs.google.com/demo/edit?id=scABEDZS8bbeedJ4O1retaVSP#document] and tossing a link at a mailing list would be fairly efficient.

          • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

            I can appreciate that it irks – but the other flip side is that every time I edit a post it is marked as ‘Unread’ in everybody’s feed readers so by the time I either spot a rogue apostrophe or someone points it out – I have to weigh up annoying people one way… or annoying people the other.Although sloppy grammar is no excuse, OMG! isn’t run from an office nor do I have an employer or lecturer breathing down my neck but duties to see to at home (I care for my sick mother) so if I’m a sentence away from being able to hit post and she needs me… I will try harder for whilst I myself am not a grammar nazi, or the worlds greatest adherent to careful typing, it disappoints me knowing that I am not my best.

            I should also point out that, in comments etc where I don’t proof read, I tend to type as I think. Which can result in odd sounding sentences. Apologies on that score – just a habit I don’t have time to break! xP

      • Glennz NL

        Stop being a total jerk.
        Why don´t you write posts and articles if you are so freaking awesome?

      • http://cldx.blogspot.com/ Joern Konopka

        WTF? Is this the Grammar Police?

        The “err” in this case would walk along the lines of a sentence as such:

        “to err on the side of caution” which means to make sure everthing remains on the safe side of things or better said, everything is approaching the development goal while keeping a safe course.

        Even i understood that and im neither native nor a Grammar Nazi..

    • Anonymous

      Exactly Ben, that made me pause and re-read the whole sentence again. That kind of fundamentals should be taken care of. But what is really annoying is that the author has not corrected it till date.
      Yes, my English is poor, but I think that is where good English really matters, i.e. when you are writing for people with different levels of English comprehension. At least, people can learn and refer to grammar to understand if they see something they haven’t.

      But anyways.. OMG ’tis frekin’ uboon2!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111, who cares..

  • fosk

    Has anybody seen the new link on the “app screen” (lingus on this video) that says:
    “share via microblog”
    (just above the screenshot)

    I think that could be the software center integration with gwibber…

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Yep it is – but it doesn’t seem to work yet.

  • Juancarlospaco

    I got a little trick to speed up Software Center, send an email to Devs,
    no reply, gonna make howto soon i think…

  • Guest

    Looks really nice and promising.

    One thing though: I’d rather see some change in the featured apps, than an animation for a never-changing section…but maybe that’s only me. ;)

  • Anonymous

    It should slide instead of fade in/out.

  • Yfrwlf

    I think that’s really annoying. If you’re busy searching through programs to install, do you really want some “featured apps” being advertised to you and distracting you? I think the giant “featured apps” button is enough.

  • Anonymous

    Annoying. What’s next? Flash ads? Grrrr.

  • ernsm

    i hope they will inculde ratings. especially newbes would benefit from this feature. i just started som months ago using ubunto more than windows and I rly missed that someone would tell me which programs are the best…

  • http://twitter.com/Mkaysi Mika Suomalainen

    Do you mean MAVERICK SOFTWARE CENTRE ADDS ANIMATED | FEATURED | APPS BAR?
    In | |, forgotten word.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Yes I did – but the post titles have to fit into Twitter with a link and a few hash tags… so… featured was the one word that I could sacrifice. Not sure why I didn’t put it back in mind…

  • http://erigami.myopenid.com/ erigami

    Meh.

    I would rather that the Canonical folks spent their time making Ubuntu One work or getting the Music Store to suck less.