Hi Owen! > Why "without the [overview]"? - I can think of several reasons offhand > why a task list might be preferred to the overview for window switching: > > - You can look find a window with your eyes and then mouse directly > to it. > > - There's less window motion, so it's easier to understand the > change when a window is raised or lowered and thus easier to > build a mental model of where things are. > > - The overview takes a fraction of a second to come up, and more > if the shell is performing badly on your system.
Combining the three above points: I see a problem that at least for me, the overlay is kind of a context switch that I might not want when should changing the window (for example, checking the download-window of firefox, if the download has finished). In GNOME 2.x I don't have a context switch here - I just bring a little utility window to foreground with the tasklist. > But if you just say "without the overview" then you are defining the > problem being in terms of the solution; we can't discuss how the > overview might be modified to improve it, or what the pros and cons > are of non-overview solutions. Don't get me wrong. I already pointed out why I think the overview isn't a perfect solution by now above. But I will happily accept ideas that improve the overview in some way so that it easier to use. Let's see which solutions exist in GNOME 2.x to switch windows/tasks: * tasklist * alt-tab Now in gnome-shell we have * overlay * alt-tab I think most non-power users don't use alt-tab because they don't know anything about keyboard-shortcuts. I never used alt-tab in the past 4 weeks of using gnome-shell though I consider myself a power-user. Have you got any other data that says that people use alt-tab regularly? What I noticed though is for example that I forgot about open chat-windows or other things because there is simply no indication that they are there when you are working with full-screen windows which I do all the time. (Maybe I am a full-screen-nazi...) The window-list as some kind of help for remembering open windows is no longer there. What's the solution for that in gnome-shell? > Just because people miss the way that things used to be isn't by > itself a sign that things shouldn't have been changed. The real > question is whether people are adapting and finding new ways of > working that work just as well. If they are, then we need to figure > out how to guide people to those ways faster. If they aren't > then we need to fix that. Sure, if the new way is better, easier or at least equal it's fine. I just don't think that it is currently. Looking forward to your answers! Thanks and regards, Johannes _______________________________________________ gnome-shell-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-shell-list
