GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 647907
Alt+Tab's special case just makes things confusing now
Last modified: 2011-05-19 13:22:35 UTC
I am slowly adjusting to the fact that Alt+Tab switches between apps and Alt+Above_Tab switches between windows within an app. Except that that's a lie! And the "switch to the most-recently-used window even if it's in the same app" special-case in Alt+Tab keeps throwing me off, and keeps me from being able to get a firm mental model of Alt+Tab. We need to get rid of that now that we have Alt+Above_Tab
I agree here - thought I had filed a bug to that effect at some point, but can't find it.
Created attachment 186058 [details] [review] altTab.js: remove Alt+Tab's special case Alt+Tab's special case of "switch to the most-recently-used window even if it's in the same app" is actually an hindrance for users to get a firm mental model of Alt+Tab. Now that we have Alt+Above_Tab the special case is no longer needed.
This was actually part of my patches to bug 639341 but at that point Dan asked me to get designer input on this behavior change and I did talk about it with Jon McCann on IRC but he didn't have much time to devote to it so I just removed it from bug 639341 and have been carrying this on my tree. Review welcome.
Comment on attachment 186058 [details] [review] altTab.js: remove Alt+Tab's special case looks right, and it's good to know that this is already tested 3.0.1?
Review of attachment 186058 [details] [review]: With this patch, it looks like the forceFocusApp flag on _update is no longer used -- so that's more code that can be removed as well!
(In reply to comment #5) > With this patch, it looks like the forceFocusApp flag on _update is no longer > used Assuming you mean the forceAppFocus flag on _select, it is still used by the case of hitting Up from a thumbnail. Owen, do we want this for 3.0.1?
(In reply to comment #6) > Owen, do we want this for 3.0.1? My two cents is that while for some users it could be a quite noticeable behavioral change from 3.0, we really want to get people off of the old hack before it becomes muscle memory for people, because then 3.2 would be more painful for them.
(In reply to comment #6) > (In reply to comment #5) > > With this patch, it looks like the forceFocusApp flag on _update is no longer > > used > > Assuming you mean the forceAppFocus flag on _select, it is still used by the > case of hitting Up from a thumbnail. I actually tried to remove @forceAppFocus but then Clutter.Up feels weird because you hit it, the thumbnails go away but come back again quickly. It's a bit disruptive. In the mean time I actually spotted a thinko in the patch, I'm attaching a new one.
Created attachment 186217 [details] [review] altTab.js: remove Alt+Tab's special case Alt+Tab's special case of "switch to the most-recently-used window even if it's in the same app" is actually an hindrance for users to get a firm mental model of Alt+Tab. Now that we have Alt+Above_Tab the special case is no longer needed.
Comment on attachment 186217 [details] [review] altTab.js: remove Alt+Tab's special case eek! I didn't even notice the changes to _keyPressEvent before, I just stopped reading the patch at the end of the show() changes. :-/ So, the additional removed code gets rid of a separate, but related oddity, which is that when the thumbnails are focused, Alt+Tab cycles through windows, until you get to the last thumbnail, at which point it goes back to cycling through apps again. I know Jon requested this behavior explicitly, but that discussion doesn't appear to have made it into bugzilla. And the effect is again to break the clear distinction between Alt+Tab and Alt+Above_Tab. (In this case, it means that if you're in an app with at least 3 windows, and you type Alt+Above_Tab, and then realize you wanted to switch apps, not windows, and so you type Tab, it will not take you to the next app, it will just take you to the next window within the current app.) But I think we should make this change too.
(In reply to comment #10) > (From update of attachment 186217 [details] [review]) > eek! I didn't even notice the changes to _keyPressEvent before, I just stopped > reading the patch at the end of the show() changes. :-/ > > So, the additional removed code gets rid of a separate, but related oddity, > which is that when the thumbnails are focused, Alt+Tab cycles through windows, > until you get to the last thumbnail, at which point it goes back to cycling > through apps again. I know Jon requested this behavior explicitly, but that > discussion doesn't appear to have made it into bugzilla. And the effect is > again to break the clear distinction between Alt+Tab and Alt+Above_Tab. (In > this case, it means that if you're in an app with at least 3 windows, and you > type Alt+Above_Tab, and then realize you wanted to switch apps, not windows, > and so you type Tab, it will not take you to the next app, it will just take > you to the next window within the current app.) Indeed, and I made the patch having that in mind too. > But I think we should make this change too. Agree.
after talking with Owen, I pushed just the first half of this patch (removing the "flipping" case), but not the second half, for 3.0.1.
rebased around the part that was already committed, and then pushed