Suggestion on window switching and other UI elements.

[Sean Brady <sbrady gtfservices com>]

I haven't had time to go through all the archives, so I apologize if any 
of these have been brought up before.

I have been using GNOME shell for a few days now on Fedora 12, and I 
really, really like it.  The interface is very clean and responsive.  
Phenomenal work here folks.

The following are some suggestions that I would like to submit for your 
consideration.

1. Window switching (I think that this one is really key here).

    I strongly suggest that a menu be given for switching windows.  
While I like the Activities menu and it's behavior with regard to 
display the open windows, along with the Alt+Tab, I find both to be a 
little more difficult to use for those of us that have 10 open windows.  
I also find it a little disconcerting when I have all these windows open 
not to have something that just lists them all.  Hitting the Activities 
menu is nice and something I would like to keep as is, however sometimes 
it is difficult to tell which window is which without having to mouse 
over each one.

I also find that sometimes it's disruptive to my workflow when rapidly 
switching back and forth between windows.  The old GNOME listed them all 
on the bottom panel, which isn't that great but at least they were all 
there, and you don't have to change the interface's "look" to change 
windows.

What I am getting at here is that activating the "Activities" menu 
changes the "look" of the interface- it's something new to look at and 
analyze, which I find makes me have to think about what's changed, pick 
the other window, and get back to what I was thinking about.  With the 
GNOME panel, you just look down.  For example, I have two windows open, 
which will stack up on the old GNOME panel left to right.  If I want to 
change windows, I don't have to pay attention to WHAT is on the right of 
the one that I am on, I just know it's the one directly to the right.  
Does this make sense?

My suggestion: a drop down menu listing all the open applications, 
triggered by clicking on the focus application area.  So, when using 
Firefox and you want a different window to appear in the foreground and 
have focus, you click on "Firefox" next to activities and get a drop 
down menu that shows you all the open applications.


2. "Widgets"

I get that the prevailing idea is simplicity in design (I agree for the 
most part) and keeping everything uncluttered, but I find myself missing 
certain widgets, like the weather panel applet.  It's nice to have.  I 
was thinking that perhaps small widgets could be added to the empty 
space to the right of the "find" dialogue box when the "Activities" 
button is activated.  I just think that space can be used for something 
good without cluttering up the interface.  I also think that a lot of 
people are going to be looking for "widget" support for one thing or 
another.

Just a thought.


3. System preferences.

I also find myself missing the traditional GNOME System and Preferences 
drop down menus.  Perhaps these could be added to the applications menu?

4. Taking some options from Compiz.

The couple things that I miss from Compiz are the Ctrl+Alt mouse click 
to switch between workspaces, and the "cube" workspace switcher.  I 
found both of these easy to use and useful.  An option for something of 
this nature would not only be visually appealing but quite handy.  Plus 
it adds some bling.  Everybody likes a little bling now and then.

And so goes my 2 cents.  Thanks all.

-Sean