GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 636122
Don't use dragging launchers to open windows
Last modified: 2012-10-31 01:30:03 UTC
This is mainly a design issue. Reasons why we shouldn't allow it: 1. Semantically, it's the wrong kind of interaction for this kind of object. App launchers are basically buttons: something which operates when selected, not when dragged. 2. It's highly unusual to use this kind of object in this way. Barring the recently deceased Nautilus backgrounds stuff, I can't think of another example. 3. It complicates the other DnD behaviour, particularly dragging to reorder launchers in the dash. We are forced to indicate both original position and destination when moving app launchers, for example - which has its own problems. 4. The action that this functionality is intended to facilitate is unnecessary at worst, niche at best. Opening a window on non-current workspace isn't an ability that the UI should be designed around. Let's get the basics right before worrying about that. 1 + 2 mean that this functionality isn't discoverable and 'feels wrong' when it is used. My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This would allow in-place dash reordering. This is the way GTK does it for tabs. It is usable, GNOMEy, and will be familiar to users. I've attached a mockup to demonstrate, not that it's really necessary.
Created attachment 175531 [details] Mockup demonstrating reordering launchers in the dash
Minor clarification: I'm suggestion that we don't do dragging to either the workspaces or to the 'window area' (or whatever it's called) in the overview. To summarise the advantages of what I'm proposing: it would make the ui more natural from a user pov, and that would make it easier and more enjoyable to use. It would also mean we can simply/improve other parts of the UI.
(In reply to comment #0) > My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This > would allow in-place dash reordering. On the other hand, this would remove the possibility to launch more than one application without leaving the overview. This is a similar problem the GNOME2 menu has - as a workaround, users can add launchers for frequently used applications to the panel. We no longer allow this in GNOME3, but give users the possibility to arrange their environment via DND. At least for me, this if far more used functionality than re-ordering of favorites in the dash, so unless there is another answer to the problem of launching several applications at once, I'm not in favor of removing the existing functionality.
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #0) > > My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This > > would allow in-place dash reordering. > > On the other hand, this would remove the possibility to launch more than one > application without leaving the overview. Isn't this a bug? It seems inconsistent to me. Why should drag-to-launch not close the overview when click-to-launch does? You already know my idea for launching multiple apps. :) https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=622700
(In reply to comment #3) > (In reply to comment #0) > > My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This > > would allow in-place dash reordering. > > On the other hand, this would remove the possibility to launch more than one > application without leaving the overview. This is a similar problem the GNOME2 > menu has - as a workaround, users can add launchers for frequently used > applications to the panel. We no longer allow this in GNOME3, but give users > the possibility to arrange their environment via DND. At least for me, this if > far more used functionality than re-ordering of favorites in the dash, so > unless there is another answer to the problem of launching several applications > at once, I'm not in favor of removing the existing functionality. This would also complicate starting apps on new workspaces as the "drag to (+)" feature would be lost. One would have to launch the app on the current workspace and drop the window on the +. While going to the overview in between. And for apps with multiple windows one has to hunt every window and drag them one by one rather than just dropping the icon on the (+). Both are way more common than reordering icons in the dash. So I am not in favor of this change as well unless we have proper replacements for the more common uses of the feature (reordering icons is a gimmick at best).
(In reply to comment #5) > (In reply to comment #3) > > (In reply to comment #0) > > > My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This > > > would allow in-place dash reordering. > > > > On the other hand, this would remove the possibility to launch more than one > > application without leaving the overview. This is a similar problem the GNOME2 > > menu has - as a workaround, users can add launchers for frequently used > > applications to the panel. We no longer allow this in GNOME3, but give users > > the possibility to arrange their environment via DND. At least for me, this if > > far more used functionality than re-ordering of favorites in the dash, so > > unless there is another answer to the problem of launching several applications > > at once, I'm not in favor of removing the existing functionality. > > This would also complicate starting apps on new workspaces as the "drag to (+)" > feature would be lost. You could add an 'Open on new workspace' item to the app launcher menu. That would also solve the problem of having to drag the launcher across to the other side of the screen to launch in a new workspace. > Both are way more common than reordering icons in the dash. This issue isn't just about dash reordering. It is also about dragging launchers to the dash (the approach I'm suggesting could be used to fix bug 623574). That said, this report isn't just about the relative need for different functionality. It is also about ensuring that all parts of the Shell are intuitive and enjoyable to use.
(In reply to comment #4) > (In reply to comment #3) > > (In reply to comment #0) > > > My suggestion would be to not allow dragging app launchers off the dash. This > > > would allow in-place dash reordering. > > > > On the other hand, this would remove the possibility to launch more than one > > application without leaving the overview. > > Isn't this a bug? It seems inconsistent to me. Why should drag-to-launch not > close the overview when click-to-launch does? > > You already know my idea for launching multiple apps. :) > > https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=622700 Differentiation between drag-to-launch-and-stay-in-the-overview and click-to-switch was done on purpose. Allowing the user to launch multiple applications and open multiple documents before leaving the overview is essential. Also, dragging to open a new instance is a lot more convenient than using a right-click menu option or a key binding. In addition, it allows to indicate the workspace you'd like the application to open on as part of the same operation.
From bug 623574#c7 ... I think we should disable dropping onto the window picker and still allow (mostly as a difficult to use easter egg) dropping on the workspace switcher targets.
So would/could the (currently non-existant) vertical-workspace switcher appear as a drop target in the Applications view? That would allow the user to do the above without any kind of jarring flip, and remove the idea from the user's head that the window picker is a drop zone. Note that currently the code for the workspace switcher is tied to the Windows tab.
I just discovered this feature and I was really happy about it. It solves a number of "problems" I had with gnome3: - starting multiple applications while stay-in-the-overview - starting a new instance of an application on the current workspace - many people (including me) wish this the default behavior of the dash icons - just drag it a bit to the right could be a compromise -> Right click & new window or pressing the strg key is fine if you rarely need this feature. But when I start an application, I just want a new instance on the current workspace, no matter if there is another instance already running or not. Using both hands or click several times to just start an application would be inappropriate. - at least starting a new instance on a distinct workspace is not that important, but it's definitely nice to have So please don't remove it. Also, keeping it won't break launcher reordering at all. If it really happens that someone wants to reorder the launchers but accidentially starts the dragged application, I think that would be no big deal.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 686984 ***