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[Bug 811225] Re: Unity launcher should show all windows if one might be obscured

 

** Changed in: ayatana-design
       Status: New => Opinion

** Changed in: unity
       Status: Incomplete => Opinion

** Changed in: unity (Ubuntu)
       Status: Incomplete => Opinion

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/811225

Title:
  Unity launcher should show all windows if one might be obscured

Status in Ayatana Design:
  Opinion
Status in Unity:
  Opinion
Status in unity package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  If an application has more than one window open, then clicking the
  icon in the launcher typically brings just one of those windows to the
  fore.

  To access the second window the user then has to click on the launcher
  a second time which then takes them into a kind of 'chooser' where
  they can then choose the one they want.

  This is a problem when many applications run with a main window that
  is maximised, and have then have other windows that are not maximised.
  The first click on the launcher brings up the maximised main window,
  yet I invariably want to get at one of the other windows. Having to
  return to the launcher a second time seems to slow me down.

  A classic example is using evolution when composing an email - the
  email composer is a secondary (non-maximised) window. Returning to
  evolution from something else means I have to access the launcher
  twice before I can choose it and get back to it.

  I can understand the logic from not always going straight to the
  'chooser' on the first click, but of course Sodde's Law determines
  that just as often this slows the user down.

  So how about this for an optimisation:
   - if there is only one window for the app, then go straight to it
   - if there is more than one window for the app, and at least one of the windows has coordinates the lie entirely inside the coordinates of any other window for that same app, then go straight to the chooser
   - if there is more than one window for the app, but no window of that app can completely obscure any other window of that same app, then raise all windows for the app and make the 'main window' the top-most.

  That way, if any window might be hidden, you always get the chooser
  and thus the chance to choose straightaway from the launcher.

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