Lesson Plan 1: What Makes Functional?
Before we begin, it's important to understand what actually makes a desktop "functional."
Functional desktops don't mean desktops made in Lisp. Functional desktops mean desktops that do exactly what you expect, with no side effects or unintrusive design. They're applications or environments that actually adapt to you and how you want them to look directly, so you're in the loop every step of the way.
Design Work
How functionality can be brought forth in existing applications.
Elements of Functionality
Intentional Design
Intentional Design means what you do should link to exactly this function, no abstract functionality. Clear and obviously divided sections are important here, as well as standard navigation that shows its page directly in the title.
Things following Intentional Design should be more spaced with standard margins rather than compressed and tightly-packed to make choices and options obvious.
Focus on titles, that are visible and inferred from the file name, rather than file names and formats. Focusing on an upload should show its formats and details in an Expandable (folder) component or in a dedicated Pane.
Blatant Transitions
Transitions typically shouldn't be scattered all over the place to reduce design functionality. Transitions should typically show where things are going to, such as animated highlights for sidebar elements or page transitions. All transitions should be able to be globally disabled.
We will expand on this further in Lesson Plan 2.
Wrap-Up
Though what you saw was (probably) shocking, the FDF focuses more on layout and flexibility rather than design overhaul. Design should adapt to various platforms, and be obvious to interact with, while retaining each app's individual characteristics and design language.