multiple desktop usability

[Marcus Moeller <mail marcus-moeller de>]

Hi all.

While testing gnome-shell, my 4 year old daughter suddenly asked me
why I am zooming in and out all the time and I had to admit that's
exactly what I asked myself, too.

After a while using the shell, I have noticed that the zoom effects
started to annoy me. As the only advantage of zooming is multiple
desktop switching, the next logical question was: do I really need
this feature (at least in such a form as implemented in the shell).

I have never used multiple desktops at all, as I do not like to switch
desktops while working with a set of different applications. As my
workflow is very individual, there also is no logical grouping of
windows on multiple desktops.

On other (quite) popular OSes (like Windows or Mac OS), multiple
desktops or spaces are either not available or not extensively used.

I would personally prefer the activities to appear as a transparent
sidebar on the desktop and to add a classic desktop switcher to the
panel (I know there are Linux ppl out there working with that feature
;))

Besides that I still think a taskbar for application switching is
necessary, at least populated with icons (as described in the
interapplication communication thread)

Best Regards
Marcus