GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 80536
"Show only the current workspace" preference confusing
Last modified: 2014-12-29 18:35:18 UTC
I've figured out why I sometimes appear to have only one workspace. It appears that occasionally the applet ends up set to show only the current workspace. Maybe this occurs when communication with gconf breaks down or something. However, aside from this, I think its a confusing and not very useful preference. Alex's described motivation for this is to use it in conjuction with showing the current workspace name, and adding two workspace applets. One is a switcher, and the other titles the current workspace. If we want this feature, which seems fine, I propose we just implement it rather than making the user "implement" it by adding two applets and setting preferences. Just add a "Show name of current workspace" checkbox that tacks a label containing the current workspace name to the left of the applet.
We can probably add a new applet "Current workspace applet". But this makes yet another applet. I'm not sure it's reasonable to add another applet. (but I agree the preference is really confusing)
We'll need to decide what to do for 2.12. I'm not sure I like the idea of a new applet, but I don't like the pref "Show name of current workspace" either...
I agree with Seth. What is the point of a workplace switcher that shows only one workspace? Why not just eliminate that preference setting. I haven't hit the bug myself.
Mass changing: milestone 2.12.x => milestone 2.14.x
So, should we just dump this preference ? Is there any use case where this would actually be useful ? One thing I'm thinking about, though, is the fact that the actual workspace switching can't be separated from the workspace visualization. Let's say that, for example, I like to switch between workspaces by using keyboard shortcuts, but I don't want to clutter my panel with the workspace switcher, since I always know where I am (the switcher that appears in the center of the screen when I switch is enough). In that case, I would like to hide the applet, while still keeping the ability to switch, but then there would be no simple way to access the applet's preferences, or just disable it. This is clearly for advanced users... Any thoughts about that ?
Thanks for taking the time to report this bug. However, you are using a version that is too old and not supported anymore. GNOME developers are no longer working on that version, so unfortunately there will not be any bug fixes for the version that you use. By upgrading to a newer version of GNOME you could receive bug fixes and new functionality. You may need to upgrade your Linux distribution to obtain a newer version of GNOME. Please feel free to reopen this bug if the problem still occurs with a newer version of GNOME.