unity-design team mailing list archive

[Evan Huus <eapache@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 6:25 PM, Stefanos A. <stapostol@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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!

I quite like it.

Evan