What’s the Right Terminology for Unity’s UI Elements in Ubuntu?
Tags: ubuntu
Published: 2021-12-14 05:05:26

---
title: What’s the Right Terminology for Unity’s UI Elements in Ubuntu?
published: true
date: 2021-11-29 05:38:09 UTC
tags: Ubuntu
canonical_url: https://stackallflow.com/ubuntu/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements-in-ubuntu/
---

<header>
<p><span style="font-size: 1.2em; color: initial;">unity</span></p>
</header>

I’ve sent a few mails to the Ayatana mailing list regarding some UI suggestions for Unity, but I’m afraid I keep confusing the right terms for the UI element, so I would like to have some clarification.

Answer Index:

- [Ubuntu 12.10, 12.04 LTS and 11.10](https://askubuntu.com/a/62842/235)
- [Ubuntu 11.04](https://askubuntu.com/a/19166/235)

#### Accepted Answer

### 1. Panel

> Is the bar at the top called “panel”?

Yes, the top bar is called the “unity-panel” or simply **panel** , the container for indicators and global menus.

### 2. Home Button

> Does the Ubuntu logo at the top left  
> corner have a name?

Since [11.04](https://web.archive.org/web/20110813141301/https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-help/unity-introduction.html) it’s called **Home Button** though it’s jokingly referred to as the [BFB by developers](https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/681504), for “Big Freaking Button”

[![home button diagram from 11.04 documentation](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8Kcp.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/g8Kcp.jpg)

### 3. Launcher

> Is the left sidebar called “dock”?

It’s called the **Launcher**.

[![launcher](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YKzBa.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YKzBa.jpg)

### 4. Launcher icons / Launcher items

> Are the coloured tiles with app icons  
> on them called “launchers”?

**Launcher icons** or **Launcher items**.

### 5. Workspace switcher

> Is the purple tile called “workspace  
> switcher”?

As of [11.04](https://web.archive.org/web/20120526032719/https://help.ubuntu.com/11.04/ubuntu-help/shell-windows.html), yes.

[![switcher](https://i.stack.imgur.com/264VD.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/264VD.jpg)

### 6. Dash

> Are the fullscreen things that appear  
> when you click the Ubuntu logo, the  
> Places tile or the Apps tile, called  
> “dash”? Do they all have the same  
> name?

Right; **[Dash](https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/unity-dash-intro.html)** is the component name for the overlay that’s used for Applications and Places. In non-technical contexts it seems to be used as the **Applications Dash** and the **Places Dash**.

[![dash mockup](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4VjDH.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4VjDH.png)

Also consider:

> The first thing you’ll see when opening the Dash is the **Dash Home**. Without typing or clicking anything, the Dash Home will show you applications and files you’ve used recently.

### Other Terms

- The menu is referred to as the [Application Menu](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopExperienceTeam/ApplicationMenu), not global menu. This is to distinguish it from the other [Global Menu Bar](http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/) project.

There seems to be no term decided upon for items kept on the launcher via the “Keep in launcher” function. The relevant dbusmenu functionality is named “pinning\_item” in the code; “sticky” doesn’t appear anywhere in the wiki and bug reports, and “Favorites” is used in the architecture document once and somewhat ambiguously to refer to what seems to be the “pinned” application items. So “Pinned” and “Favorites” seem both fine for now.

For further information, see the [Unity Architecture](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Unity_Architecture.pdf) document, and [/Unity/Lenses](https://web.archive.org/web/20130319140956/https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses/j) on the wiki.

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