GS impressions/suggestions - ALT+Tab app switching et al.

[krzysztof pijarski <kpijarski o2 pl>]

Hello,

first of all I want to say that I think you people are doing a great job
with Gnome-Shell and I am really looking forward to using it on a
day-to-day basis. As of now only one thing is a real showstopper for me:
the Alt-Tab window switching. Here is why:

Many people have >1 browser windows opened while working, the same for
office apps. I for that matter use TiddlyWiki as an application to take
notes, another browser window with many tabs (google search, various
dictionaries etc.) and have a couple of openoffice wroter windows open
(not counting open nautilus window(s)).

Now, imagine what I have to go through to switch between those three
windows (one OO, and those two Firefox ones)! Instead of hitting tab two
times max any given time (that is how it used to work in gnome), I now
have to use tab + two arrow keys every second time i want to switch to
that other FF window; horrific! This makes window switching a major
obstacle for me. When I have more OO windows open (and that happens a
lot) the situation gets predictably worse.
What is more, the actual vs. other workspaces approach in representing
the open windows doesn't represent the topography of your workspaces
which amounts to extra confusion.

Therefore I think:
1. The window grouping rationale seems very counterproductive to me and
I would be extremely happy if there would at least be an option to turn
this off
2. +1 to all the people in the lists that suggested that Alt-tab switch
should work only for windows on the given workspace - in the end that is
what workspaces were invented for, right? If I wanted to switch to a
window on another workspace I'd just go to overlay or switch the
workspace with the keyboard.
3. it might be nice to implement a "mini overlay" that would work just
as the compiz scale plugin but look like just the active workspace in
overlay (Alt-Ctl-arrow up?); but that is just a thought, maybe that
would be too much.

Some more collected thoughts and suggestions:
1. I love the idea that in overlay I can drag an application to the
workspace I want it to open in; well, that doesn't work when you use the
search function. Why is that? 
ATM the only way to use that functionality is to add the given
application to the Favorites and have a document right there in recent
items, otherwise you just have to open/activate a given item, go back
into overlay etc.
2. +1 to everybody who said the system tray icons / calendar should work
in overlay; otherwise make them dim down as in Alt-F2; ATM this seems
confusing
3. The same button that takes you into overlay should get you out of
there; why do I have to hit Esc and not just Meta a second time to go
back to my desktop? Confusion again.
4. Are there plans to put gnome-global-menu in place of those
application placeholders in the panel? As one of the members of the
mailing list observed, I know the window that is currently on top and
using a large part of the panel to tell me again is a bit too much. But
- using that icon to be able to switch to other windows (like in
global-menu) while representing the active app's menu next to it, and
putting the name of the application only when it is not supported (OO,
FF, VLC, KDE apps) would be just beautiful!!!!
5. +1 as to the uselessness of the sidebar - get rid of it. IMO
Gnome-Shell + Kupfer (or Gnome-Do, whatever suits one better) is
potentially the most efficient graphic user shell, if (or when) the
window switching problem is out of the way ;)

Ok, this e-mail has gotten much too long already. As I said - thanks for
your terrific work, I am convinced GS will be the shell and wanted to
contribute with a bit of user experience so I can really love it (please
fix the window switcher, please!).

All the best, 

Krzysztof