← Back to team overview

unity-design team mailing list archive

Re: Dash search vs Alt+F2 in 11.10

 

2011/9/27 Ian Santopietro <isantop@xxxxxxxxx>

> Adding a 5th stop just makes it harder to get to it. The point of having
> the separate dashes, as I see it, is to provide very quick access to both
> pieces of very important functionality.
>

Alt-F2 will still be available. I suggested the *addition* of a way to move
between Alt-F1 and Alt-F2 modes, not the removal of Alt-F2. See my previous
post for the rationale.


> There isn't really a reason to switch from one to the other, since they
> behave differently (i.e. you wouldn't use Alt+F2 to open firefox, and you
> wouldn't use Dash to run "killall thunderbird").
>

They behave differently but they look identical - the current watertight
division is completely artificial. Try explaining the difference between
Alt-F1 and Alt-F2 to a new user in a single sentence (no, really, try!)

Besides, why wouldn't I use the Dash to "killall thunderbird"? What if I
press Alt-F1 instead of Alt-F2 by mistake? Should I close the Dash, reopen
it in Alt-F2 mode and retype the whole command? That's not very
user-friendly (and, yes, this happens to me from time to time). Gnome Do
used to support this seamlessly and effortlessly, by offering an "execute
command in terminal" option along with "launch application" and "search
files". There is very little reason why the Dash supports the latter two in
the same way but compartmentalizes the first into a separate place.

Follow ups

References