Re: [Ayatana] Unity with window-centric launcher

["Stefanos A." <stapostol@xxxxxxxxx>]

2011/5/8 Ed Lin <edlin280@xxxxxxxxx>
> I think that's the best implementation of taskbar meats dock offering
>
>
> all functions of both without sacrificing too much.
> But I'm not sure that's what you after. You are asking for a primary
> window-centric launcher. That doesn't exist, it's not possible to do
> without turning the launcher into something else, i.e. back into a
> taskbar.

Let's attempt to think outside the box for a moment.

The problem: clicking an application icon launches/restores the application in question. Clicking the icon again does *not* minimize the application, as most users would expect coming from the previous version of Ubuntu.

The current approach: this is a dock, not a taskbar, and thus does not offer window management functions.

A potential solution:

- (if application is not launched) click launches application

- (if a single application window exists)

- - (if application window is not active/focused) click raises/maps/focuses the window

- - (new: if application window is active/focused) click minimizes the window

- (if multiple application windows exist)

- - (if not in expose mode) click activates expose mode

- - (new: if in expose mode) click minimizes all windows and leaves expose mode

The two "new:" items form the proposal. The current dock has some minimal window management capabilities (raise/map, expose) - this is the simplest natural extension to those capabilities (minimize/unmap, remove expose) to achieve the functionality expected by the users. The dock remains an application-centric dock, without becoming a window-centric taskbar hybrid.

Arguments/comments welcome!