User feedback on gnome usability

[Christophe Siraut <chris tobald eu org>]

Hello,

I am new to gnome list and have not browsed its archive. Forgive me if
things I mention have already been discussed. Here is a little feedback
from a daily gnome user. Yesterday I tried once again to replace
metacity and panel with gnome-shell. Today I do not, as I feel less
productive with shell. Here are two choices I do not understand in
gnome 3.

How do we launch applications?

In gnome 2, using mouse only, we can launch applications through
structured and intuitive menus. In gnome 3, only recent applications
are launchable with the mouse. One must know the names for the
remaining applications, and type in the first letters using keyboard.

How do we switch application? vs How do we switch workspace?

Switching workspace is ignored by many people. This is not a problem to
me. In gnome 2 switching workspace can be triggered by 1 (mouse)
actions: clicking in the applet. In gnome 3 a lot of attention is put
on adding/removing workspaces, on moving windows from one workspace to
another. Do people change their applications from one workspace to
another so often? (Is it relevant to have these not so useful tasks
executed manually?) I would rather focus on launching/unhiding
applications consistently (by application generic names for example,
like gnome-do does it launching "text-editor" instead of "gedit"), and
maybe have them presented in an easy way for showing windows not
currently visible to the user. Switching Application in gnome 3 (by
clicking on the application screenshot resized in its workspace) is
less intuitive to me than having some sort of window-list. (I like
window-picker-applet for instance). I think having a workspace approach
is less universal than a application-centric one.

Regards,
Chris