Re: Live preview for all windows in alt-tab display?

[Adam Williamson <awilliam redhat com>]

On Wed, 2010-10-27 at 23:06 +0200, Milan Bouchet-Valat wrote:

> > "Alt+Tab switches between windows. The windows are grouped by
> > application and the previews of the applications with multiple windows
> > are available as you click through...Previews of applications with a
> > single window are only available when the Down arrow is explicitly hit."
> > 
> > But...why? Is there any reason to show just static icons of apps with
> > only a single window open on the alt-tab list? I'd find a live preview
> > of every application, no matter how many windows it has open, much more
> > useful. This was one of the things I liked about Compiz, when I used it.
> > I tended to use it as an easy way to see if a console operation had
> > finished, or if anyone had said something in a given IRC channel, etc -
> > just have a quick look through the alt-tab list, then back to what I was
> > doing.
> Maybe because the overview mode is precisely doing this already? What
> would be the point of having almost the same functionality available
> from the Activities button and Alt+Tab at the same time? If you want a
> keyboard shortcut to get an overview of windows, use the Logo key or Alt
> +F1.

It doesn't do that at all. Alt-tab cycles through windows, with whatever
I was doing still visible behind it. Start / Alt + F1 does not; it
brings up an entire separate interface, which includes application and
document launching as well as window switching. It also doesn't have a
usable keyboard interface; even when
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=587071 is fixed, using the
keyboard in alt-f1 view will naturally navigate through the left-hand
side pane, not switch between windows.

To switch windows from the alt-f1 view I hit alt-f1, examine all the
windows it shows, and use the mouse to pick one. I can't cycle, and I
can't use the keyboard. alt-tab allows me to cycle through windows using
a keyboard interface. They're completely different. Without alt-tab,
gnome-shell would be extremely clunky to use, for me.
-- 
Adam Williamson
Fedora QA Community Monkey
IRC: adamw | Fedora Talk: adamwill AT fedoraproject DOT org
http://www.happyassassin.net