[Usability] Changing the taskbar semantics

[Maurizio Colucci <seguso forever tin it>]

Hello,

I think a change to the semantics of the taskbar could result in a usability 
improvement.

Currently the taskbar is a list of (open) windows. 

Idea
------

Could the taskbar become a list of (open) application instances?

Example
------------

Suppose you have two mozilla instances (each one on a different URL), and 
one gimp instance (with three windows). So we have three instances but five 
windows.

Currently the taskbar (with grouping turned off) shows 5 buttons:

 mozilla - www.osnews.com
 mozilla - http://slashdot.org
 gimp - file.png
 gimp - layer, channels and paths
 gimp - Brushed, patterns, gradients

With the new behavior, the taskbar would only show three buttons:

 mozilla - www.osnews.com
 mozilla - http://slashdot.org
 gimp 

(in particular, notice this is different from "taskbar grouping". With taskbar 
grouping we would have two buttons, because it would also group mozilla into 
one).

Why?
--------

Now, the obvious questions are:

1. Why would you want to do such a change to the taskbar?

2. Suppose we do the change. How would the user specify a window for gimp? 
Because ultimately, a window MUST be specified.

Answers:

1. There is a very good reason. While the taskbar is a good place to switch 
between different instances (e.g. two mozilla windows), it is not a good place 
to switch between child windows of a single instance (e.g. gimp windows). 

Why? Because different instances are usually meant to be visible one at a 
time, whereas child windows of a single instance are meant to be all visible 
at once.

Take gimp for example: gimp has a single instance with many windows. The 
windows are meant to be visible at the same time, so you would never use the 
taskbar to switch between them.  You would just click inside them. 
On the other hand, two mozilla windows are not mean to be visible together, so 
the taskbar is useful to switch between them.

2. Gnome should automatically allocate a virtual desktop for gimp. When the 
user clicks the gimp button on the taskbar, the view will change to that 
virtual desktop, which REMEMBERS the active window. Voila'.

What about it?

-- 
Maurizio Colucci
http://logicaldesktop.sourceforge.net