Idea for closing workspaces that contain programs

[Ross Smith <myxiplx googlemail com>]

Hi guys,

Please let me know if this isn't the best place to discuss new ideas,
I'm pretty new here :)

After adding a new workspace, I hit this bug that stops me removing it:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=581209

But it got me thinking - while adding workspaces is great, and
integrates with the workflow of launching applications really well,
the closing a workspace process feels a bit clunky.  I have to
manually close every program on that workspace, then click on the
Activities menu, and then click a button to close it.

What I would like to suggest are two new features for closing workspaces:
1. Allow the user to close any workspace.  If there are programs on
there, ask if they should be closed or moved to another workspace.  If
you think this is feasible, it pretty much resolves bug 581209.
2. Allow users to drag one workspace onto another to close the
original workspace and move the programs in one motion.

And a quick thought for creating workspaces:
3. Allow users to drag programs onto a blank 'new workspace' area, or
onto the '+' symbol to open a new workspace with that program on it.
I'd also maybe be tempted to change the graphic styling of the '+' to
make it look like a faded or greyed out mini workspace (you could even
include the users background).

And how about:
4. Instead of dragging to launch a program and stay in the menu, could
we think about a way to launch a program on a specific workspace and
immediately switch to it?  I would suggest that launching multiple
programs is likely a power user thing, so either ctrl+dragging, or
right-click dragging would make sense to me as methods to launch a
program and stay in the Activities menu.

I can't see regular users who drag wanting to do anything other than
launch a single program and go to it.

Ross