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Bug 664378 - Desktop order get confused when closing last window
Desktop order get confused when closing last window
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-shell
Classification: Core
Component: general
3.2.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: gnome-shell-maint
gnome-shell-maint
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2011-11-19 14:36 UTC by Andy Ross
Modified: 2015-02-27 03:19 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: ---


Description Andy Ross 2011-11-19 14:36:46 UTC 
I have a desktop where (like many I suspect) I assign specific tasks to each virtual desktop.  Let's pretend that the "top" desktop is a browser.

While working, I close that last browser window.  And gnome-shell presents a new "zoomed out" desktop for me.  But the new desktop is at the BOTTOM of the stack.

I have now near-unrecoverably broken my desktop environment!  If I want a browser on the top of the stack again I need to manually move every window I have open.  Down one screen.

This is INSANELY annoying.  Really I think it's a terrible design bug. If the virtual desktops have any meaning at all they need to stay in the same place.  I understand the desire to prune "empty" desktops, but can it please be done after the user browses away?
Comment 1 Milan Bouchet-Valat 2011-11-19 14:39:12 UTC 
Thanks for the bug report. This particular bug has already been reported into our bug tracking system, but please feel free to report any further bugs you find.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 663984 ***
Comment 2 Milan Bouchet-Valat 2011-11-19 14:40:49 UTC 
Oh, bug 664378 is probably more similar. All these reports are about kind of the same thing. Bug 664378 sounds like a potential partial solution to the more general issue of static workspaces (bug 663984).
Comment 3 Jasper St. Pierre (not reading bugmail) 2011-11-19 14:44:38 UTC 
(In reply to comment #2)
> Oh, bug 664378 is probably more similar. All these reports are about kind of
> the same thing. Bug 664378 sounds like a potential partial solution to the more
> general issue of static workspaces (bug 663984).

Did you get this wrong? Bug 664378 is *this* bug! But Andy, there's also a new feature in GNOME 3.4 that allows you to create new workspaces anywhere by dragging a window in the space around existing workspaces.
Comment 4 Milan Bouchet-Valat 2011-11-19 14:59:49 UTC 
(In reply to comment #3)
> Did you get this wrong? Bug 664378 is *this* bug!
Sigh. Marking duplicates is a hard task. ;-)

I was very confused, and the present bug doesn't seem to be very similar to bug 663984 after all, so let's forget it. Sorry for the noise.

I think your idea of not closing an empty workspace if it's not the last one should be considered. Empty workspaces could be kept open until the user moves to another one, which would make the UI feel more stable. So let's keep this bug separate and wait for the designers to have a look at it.
Comment 5 Florian Müllner 2015-02-27 03:19:53 UTC 
I don't think this is relevant anymore - we now only clear out empty workspaces after navigating away from them, which is pretty much what the report asks for ...