Good day, I have an idea to present that I would like to
call the PieThrower.
The idea resolvs around providing the user with an easy and
fast
interface to "throw" application windows to
different workspaces.
The inspiration came from this very mailing list. Basically
the
discussion went around adding buttons
to the window list. Either many buttons representing each
direction to which a window could go or
one button spawning a secondary menu showing one button for
each
currently existing workspace.
While these designs solve the issue they either clutter the
window border in a way that might seem
too much or they are based on two a two step menu with small
icons.
What the PieThrower bases around is the concept of the user
throwing or sending windows to other
workspaces with the use of a pie or circle menu, depending on
what you like to call it. A pie menu is
a menu shaped as a circle with one slice for each option.
There
are two ways as I see it that this
interface could be accessed, either by a button located on
window border or when the middle mouse
button is pressed on the border. When the user triggers
interface a pie or circle menu appears
showing one piece for each one of maximally four directions
possible. The menu is spawned around
the mouse or button location and the different are activated
either by mouse position or release of the
mouse button.
To break up the preceding wall of text and further explain the
design, here is the PieThrower spawned
by a button when three other workspaces are open to the left,
to
the right and underneath:
This pie menu in this mockup is spawned by a button. In this
case the user can either press the
button, then release the mouse again, and then press the slice
he or she wishes to. But this is not
the most efficient way to go. Pressing the button, but never
releasing it brings up the menu just as
fast.
Now there are two different ways to go here. One where a slice
is activated when the user releases
his mouse on or outside of a slice. The inner circle always
cancels the menu. The other where
activation of a slice happends either when the user releases
his
mouse on a slice or directly when the
mouse reaches outside of a slice. This second option is the
one
that would give a real edge to the
function making it feel as if you were throwing the window to
your next workspace.
Here is a second mockup spawned from middle mouse button
showing
a usecase where Gnome
Shell is sorting the workspaces in linear view. Here the user
has one workspace open to the left but
none to the right, but the interface allows for the user to
open
up a new workspace and send the
window to it:
So after this throw at explaining the PieThrower I would like
to
ask the code writers who managed to
read through the whole idea, is this possible to do? And if it
is possible to realize this idea, what happens next?
PS: The same design could be used to switch workspaces, middle click
background or other suitable area and off you go.
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Love it! This makes sense, as it more easily exposes the idea of
switching workspaces and doesn't require going to the overlay or using
some kind of keyboard shortcut. I hope something similar to this is
implemented in the future!
