unity-design team mailing list archive

[Omar B. <estelar57@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree on those plans, but the are also a few other issues.

1) spread/scale needs quite some improvements, as it hasn't seen any at all since its introduction.

here you can see the problem in more detail.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/37722/hard-to-find-one-window-among-many

it has been forgotten for a while, so it still resembles the old expose from like 2006.

*some improvements to the scale would be:

-window titles on the previews

-highlight current active window

-close button on hover to easily get rid of windows that are just cluttering.

-assign each window preview a number or letter to remember for faster switching

-static position of the previews for predictability

-automatically show scale after a few seconds hover?



2) another problem is constantly invoking the spread to find and select between windows multiple times.

the above for the spread, if implemented would help, but another solution would also be to "list the windows on hover". 

which was mentioned here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1qzdtw562KQJ:https://lists.launchpad.net/ayatana/msg07295.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=ubuntu

It makes the workflow faster and is a traditional solution that is available in virtually every task bar or launcher. example:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cbKmMTymZ10/TneWpVhTz3I/AAAAAAAAF_4/Z34C763PuS0/dockbarx_windowlist_theme.png


So, the launcher and switching between windows and app is usually a part that we use frequently, so not forgetting about it and making it that extra bit more accessible and comfortable to use is always welcome.







> Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:47:15 +0000
> From: mark@xxxxxxxxxx
> To: t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx
> CC: unity-design@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Unity-design] On left-clicking the launcher with multiple instances running
> 
> 
> Thanks for the analysis. Here is my understand of what *should* be 
> happening. There are clearly bugs, in part because I suspect the 
> interaction of all this with minimised windows was never specified in 
> detail, I may be speaking out of turn, John Lea will be able to provide 
> clarity.
> 
> The first role of the launcher is to 'give you a window of the app'. If 
> you already have (focused) a window of the app, it should let you choose 
> one of the other windows (hence the app spread). If you have the app 
> running, but not focused, it should focus the last-focused window of 
> that app.
> 
> With regard to minimization:
> 
>   * we should not unminimize a window unless that is explicitly requested
>   * we should make no assumptions about app windows which "go together" 
> unless we have a basis for doing so, such as child windows
> 
> So clicking on a launcher icon should behave as follows:
> 
>   * if the app is not running, launch it, focus the window
>   * if the app is running but has no windows, create a window and focus it
>   * if the app is running with windows, but not focused, bring the 
> last-focused window to the top and focus it
>        => if we know there are other windows which are part of that 
> window's experience, like floating toolbars and palettes, raise them too
>        => do not raise or unminimise any other windows
>   * if the app is running with a focused window, spread the windows 
> (even minimised windows) so the user can choose
>        => when the user chooses, bring that window (and child windows 
> ONLY) to the front and focus it
> 
> Mark
> 
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