Re: [orca-list] Trying Quantal Quetsal Alpha 3

[Jason White <jason jasonjgw net>]

Thomas Ward <thomasward1978 gmail com> wrote:
> Yes, Gnome-Shellhas an apps menu. It is a bit tricky to get to, but
> you can certainly access it with Orca. 

The easiest solution is to type Alt-F1 to move to the activities overview,
then start typing the name of the desired application, which will match
entries in the application list. You can also use cursor keys to move through
the list.

Applications can be added to the dash, but if you move to the dash and then
start typing, it still searches the entire list of applications instead of
restricting itself to those you have added to the dash (at least, this was the
behaviour when I last checked). I think this is a deliberate design decision
however, not an oversight, and there are plans to extend the search function
to files as well as applications.

Without entering into the debate here, the design of Gnome-Shell remains
controversial and attracts strong opinions on both sides. This isn't unusual:
cf. Bourne shell vs. csh, Emacs vs. Vi, Firefox vs. Chromium, Gnome vs. KDE
vs. XFCE vs. LXCE, debates about wich window manager is best, and so on. Of
these, I think the modern versions of the Bourne shell such as Bash are
generally preferred to Csh and its derivatives nowadays except perhaps for
some BSD users, but the rest of the debates are ongoing - and Gnome-Shell has
become very controversial, just as KDE 4 did until it stabilized. There aren't
many KDE 3 enthusiasts anymore, judging by articles I've read. Undoubtedly Gnome
developers are hoping for a similar trajectory in the Gnome-Shell case.