Re: Thoughts on Alt-Tab switching

[Jeremy Perry <jeremy perry redhat com>]

Thanks Fernando, some thoughts below.

On Jun 9, 2009, at 3:03 AM, Fernando wrote:

> 2009/6/8 Jeremy Perry <jeremy perry redhat com>:
> > http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/DesignerPlayground/Switcher
>
> In my opinion:
>
> I'm not sure how many people would try to use the mouse while holding
> Alt, it's not very intuitive that the mouse can be used in that
> situation, I believe most people trend to use only the mouse or only
> the keyboard, and switch back and forth from using one or another.

Actually, I do it all the time on Mac OS. Once you do it you will love  
it and will be annoyed not to have it. Its easy to discover too, the  
first time you bump the mouse while Alt-tabbing. Even if you never use  
the mouse, you still can use the feature as before.

> However, it does look like a good idea for a mouse alternative way of
> launching the switch-window dialog... perhaps via a mouse gesture, an
> additional button of the mouse or some button in the sidebar, getting
> a stationary switching mode that doesn't require you to press Alt and
> that can be used with mouse-only. I really think that mouse gestures
> would be a great addition for mouse-only users, as well as for
> accessibility.

Totally agree. I wonder which would be more important - a mouse  
gesture for this or for entering the shell? I suppose both could  
happen with the right mouse.
> Another thing, I don't think that switching between all the windows in
> every workspace is a good idea. What's the purpose of workspaces then?

I think the value of workspaces is the physical division of the space  
- example I want this app to take up a whole screen, and this screen  
to have appx, y, and z. I might have pidgin in one space and a full  
screen art app in another. i want to be able to quickly switch to  
pidgin when I hear the 'ping.'  I think of people working across  
workspaces because it is spatially tidy, not just because they want to  
live in 1 and forget about 2 and 3 for a while.

> If people like to cycle all their windows they can use 1 only
> workspace, which is the default.

Agreed, and in most cases I think users will stay in this single  
workspace mode. But as I said, I think its about enabling spatial  
organization more than task organization (which I think is a false  
boundary sometimes).

> On the other hand, a Alt-Tab like
> shortcut for switching workspaces in recently used order could be a
> nice addition imho.
Agree!
> --
> Fernando