Merge Application Menubar with tool tip

[yaronhb]

One of my favorite features in macOS is that the application’s menu bar merges with the top bar.
I’d love to see this behavior in puter!

Beyond my personal taste for this design [I was awfully upset when ubuntu change to gnome], I also believe that this would be good for real-estate : as it reduces the additional horizontal space that is scarified for accommodating the menu bar in the current implementation.

In addition, a standard API for menu bars could also allow for two lovely features from macOS and iPadOS:

1. In macOS, the help section in the menu allows you to type the name menu item and it automatically finds it for you.
2. In iPadOS a long press on the cmd key popups a window where you can search for the various keyboard shortcuts in a similar manner.

I could add photos for these features, but I’m guessing they are fairly obvious.

I hope, I’m not the only one with this opinion and that it could be added in; but, if not - I would love if it could be at least an opt-in type of feature (instead).

[jelveh]

I like this idea as I'm a Mac user too. My main issue with it is that the majority of computers out there are not Mac meaning the majority of end-users aren't used to this style of menubars. My initial thought is allowing the user to customize the style of menubar based on preference. What do you think?

[yaronhb]

@jelveh Thank you for your interest in my suggestion!

In my honest opinion, I don’t think it would be a big issue for anyone. In the worst-case scenario, a first time user would be puzzled for a couple of seconds before finding it in the menu bar area (file… edit… is very distinctive).
I believe that most people won’t even get to this “worst case scenario”.

When I switched to macOS I barely even noticed the difference. Many apps I used were large enough that you already could notice the menu bar just by looking at the top of the application window.
The only time I would notice the difference is when the window was substantially small, however even that wasn’t really a problem because I would look for the menus at the top of the display out of pure muscle memory 😆

My personal suggestion is to implement this fully like in macOS.
I would do something about it only if there are enough people that this bugs them.
My solution for this would be add a toggle (in settings) that shifts the menus from the menu bar to the top of the window.

[jelveh]

I'm gonna implement this when I have time to see how it feels in practice. Will update this issue when it's ready.

[jelveh]

ngl this looks dope af.

[jelveh]

Done! 🎉

[yaronhb]

Looks crazy cool!

[yaronhb]

Is it live on the demo version for it to be tested?

Also, have you considered adding support for keyboard shortcuts as part of the SDK?
It would allow for implementing a textual search for menu items. Something like this:

[jelveh]

Is it live on the demo version for it to be tested?

It's currently only available on the self-hosted Puter.

Also, have you considered adding support for keyboard shortcuts as part of the SDK?

Yes! There is the basics in there but not fully implemented yet. It should be ready by the time we put it on puter.com 🔥

[yaronhb]

@jelveh You rock!

I'm leading the development of an internal system as a university project instructor.
We are considering incorporating this project into it for managing small UI tools for interacting with microservices [and because puter is so damn cool].

I'm glad this project is still in development because we can suggest useful ideas at an early stage (and thus, lowering the chances for the necessity of redesign / major refactors), and also contribute to this project.

Some additional ideas I have (not really sure if it is worth opening a separate issue for each one): multi-monitor support via multiple browser tabs [I think its important to consider at an early stage beacuse it can affect the overall architecture], better window management (snapping and sizing), application and permission management, offline mode, keycloak user management (allows for manipulating users by configuration, e.g. SSO), GPO style management for central configuration, multiple spaces, desktop profiles / workspaces.