Re: [Ayatana] Dash search vs Alt+F2 in 11.10

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

2011/9/28 Ian Santopietro <isantop@xxxxxxxxx>

But Alt-F1 triggers keyboard navigation of the launcher, not the dash. You can switch directlyfrom there to either dash or the Run dialog without any other action. To open the dash, briefly press and release Super, which is a very different shortcut from Alt-F2, and not likely to be confused. It is true they look identical and serve very different functions, but be cause they are each accessed so differently, it's unlikely that a user would open one when they meant to open the other.

You are right, please replace all my "Alt-F1" references by "Super". That's what you get for writing without coffee in the morning.

As for it being unlikely, I'd argue that it isn't. There are many times where I hit Super only to decide I'd rather enter a command rather than launch an application. Right now it's impossible to mode-switch easily, because you have to close and reopen the Dash. This fells ugly.

And one might use "killall Thunderbird" to terminate Thunderbird if it freezes. It was a rhetorical example, but the point is that sometimes it is useful to run a command without opening a terminal, particularly if you would then immediately close the terminal.

Indeed, which is why I use the Alt-F2 prompt. What I am arguing for is a way to access Alt-F2 functionality from the main Dash. Several ways were presented. My favourite so far: Enter key launches application (as now); Ctrl+Enter interprets the text as a command.

Simple and intuitive.