GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 662457
Workspaces list in the Activities overlay should always be expanded when there are windows on other workspaces
Last modified: 2014-05-14 19:58:39 UTC
Presently, the workspaces list in the Activities overview is shown expanded if there is more than one workspace with a window on it. The intention is to expose thee workspaces list only if workspaces are being used. The present heuristic is suboptimal when there are exactly two workspaces and the second workspace is selected. Instead, the workspaces list should be expanded if there is a window on any workspace other than the selected workspace. This is equivalent to collapsing the list only when there are exactly two workspaces, and workspace 1 is selected (and the mouse isn't hovering the area). Steps to reproduce: 1. Open three windows each on their own workspace. 2. Go to the third workspace. 3. Close the window on this workspace. You're taken back to the Activities overview, which shows there are no windows on this workspace. The workspaces list at the right is expanded, so it's easy to see there are windows on other workspaces. 4. Select the second workspace. 5. Select the window on it and pretend to use the window for a few seconds. 6. Close the window. You're taken back to the Activities overview, which shows there are no windows on this workspace. However, the workspaces list is collapsed, because there are only two workspaces.
Created attachment 199726 [details] [review] workspaces-view: Adjust heuristic for hiding workspace switcher (This will need some comments and a proper commit message if we want to include it) (In reply to comment #0) > The intention is to expose thee workspaces list only if workspaces are being > used. The present heuristic is suboptimal when there are exactly two workspaces > and the second workspace is selected. True. I doubt we can find a heuristic which is optimal in every single case, so it's all about weighing different drawbacks and make a pick. > Instead, the workspaces list should be expanded if there is a window on any > workspace other than the selected workspace. I attached a patch which implements the suggested behavior, but I'm not convinced it is actually better. It certainly fixes the case described, but in the case of two workspaces, it also causes the workspace switcher to pop in/out when changing workspaces, which is rather confusing (at least to me). Let's get some designer input on this ...
*** Bug 665906 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #1) > Created an attachment (id=199726) [details] [review] > workspaces-view: Adjust heuristic for hiding workspace switcher > > (This will need some comments and a proper commit message if we want to include > it) > > > (In reply to comment #0) > > The intention is to expose thee workspaces list only if workspaces are being > > used. The present heuristic is suboptimal when there are exactly two workspaces > > and the second workspace is selected. > > True. I doubt we can find a heuristic which is optimal in every single case, so > it's all about weighing different drawbacks and make a pick. > > > > Instead, the workspaces list should be expanded if there is a window on any > > workspace other than the selected workspace. > > I attached a patch which implements the suggested behavior, but I'm not > convinced it is actually better. It certainly fixes the case described, but in > the case of two workspaces, it also causes the workspace switcher to pop in/out > when changing workspaces, which is rather confusing (at least to me). > > Let's get some designer input on this ... I quickly tried the patch. It feels like an improvement to me, since it helps you to know where you are and gives you an easy way to go return to the first workspace. Maybe I'm missing something though.
Review of attachment 199726 [details] [review]: The behavior seems OK to me - likely an improvement - but it seems to break workspace switch animations, at least going between the first workspace and the second empty workspace, which makes it confusing what is going on.
This was implemented.
No, it wasn't.
Created attachment 254321 [details] [review] overviewControls: Adjust heuristic for hiding workspace switcher Rebased to master, in case we want to pick this up.
Attachment 254321 [details] pushed as 50f0fc4 - overviewControls: Adjust heuristic for hiding workspace switcher
Woo! Thankyou for fixing this! (I have to use OS X at work and every time I try to switch workspaces I'm always reminded how much easier Gnome is.)