GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 89082
Window/Workspace switches should happen immediately
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
Currently alt-tab, or ctrl-alt-arrow in Metacity pops up a window or workspace list ala Windows. Usability wise I think it would be better to actually switch windows/workspaces as keystrokes are pressed (I think the argument is stronger that this should be done with workspaces than windows, but I think there's a good argument for doing this with window switching too). This provides: a) Better context information for making a decision, allowing quicker decisions with fewer mistakes. This is particularly in the case of ambiguously named windows (e.g. 4 web browser windows opened to bugzilla, or terminal windows), where the context of the window itself is the primary useful information. However, even in the "normal" case I think its easier to recognize actual windows than the abstract name. An argument could be made that the name is providing less "noise" and hence could be recognized faster, in cognitive psychology with recognition tasks, extra contextual information usually allows people to select items faster rather than slower. Extra *relevant* information is usually helpful rather than detrimental. In the case of teh workspaces, except in the (I would guess exceptional) case where the workspaces are well named the switcher provides almost *no* contextual information forcing the user to mentally map "workspace one" to the first workspace in their switcher. b) Less abstraction, more of a sense of direct manipulation. Rather than the task being an "order to the computer to bring up a particular window which is executed when I let up the key" the action has a direct effect on the system. The biggest problem I see is potential performance problems. Namely the keystroke method of switching windows is often used to expidite window switching relative to using the window list in the panel, and raising/lowering the windows themselves at every press of TAB could slow this operation down. However, my experience with window managers that do the actual switch in response to keystrokes is that this operation is sufficiently fast that it is not a problem (and the increase in human decision making speed means the average acquisition speed is probably improved). Because being able to visualize the order of window switching to predict which window will come up next (or so you can see that your desired window is well down the chain and press tab a few times quickly) is probably useful in workspaces with a large number of windows, I would suggest keeping the window-list popup, but also switching the actual window ordering in realtime rather than just popping up the outlines (which, i should add, help a little, but physical position is not nearly as much contextual information as the actual desired object itself being displayed ;-)
Note that there is a keybinding to do the window switching without a popup (alt+esc by default). To me the argument for the popup is that it's just extremely, well, jarring to have windows and workspaces jumping all over the place. If there were some kind of smooth motion instead of a flat appear/disappear it would be nicer. But this has already been rehashed at some length in another bug in here.
Looking at alt-esc, I agree that its slightly disorienting/jarring. I'm not sure how this compares to the loss of contextual information. I know from personal experience that I periodically struggle to find windows using Metacity's alt-tab. It could well be that since I have more windows open than most users will have, this is not a significant problem for most people. I also suspect the effect would be much less jarring with the window switch list popped up on top, since it would give you a solid frame of reference to stare at as you switch, using the direct contextual information of "what window is actually on top" only when you need it. The problem now seems partly to be that you have to scan the whole screen for changes as it flashes abruptly as windows appear and disappear. I didn't find the bug, was it already closed?
The bug is closed yes, something about the workspace popup.
OK, For workspaces I'm more sure that having automatic switching is a good thing. Its slightly counterintuitive since workspace switching takes longer, but the reason is that the workspace-switch popup offers substantially less useful information than the window-switch popup (which at least presents a good name & icon).
OK, found a few related bugs. Retitling again because I don't think we should avoid the popups (I think we should have them), I think they should perhaps be supplemented with immediate effect.
Up to you, Havoc...
> OK, For workspaces I'm more sure that having automatic switching is a > good thing. Its slightly counterintuitive since workspace switching > takes longer, but the reason is that the workspace-switch popup offers > substantially less useful information than the window-switch popup > (which at least presents a good name & icon). Seth, the workspace flipping used to be instant. I tell you it was *insanely* slow when you wanted to navigate accross several desktops. Also I think it is important feedback to display the pager-popup (that CVS metacity does currently) instead of just jumping on keypress ("eh, I pressed this key, and now my web browser disappeared??") Virtual desktops are confusing thing for a newcomer, though they are extremely useful. I think the popup works quite well in this, makes switching faster and also gives an idea what is happening when everything suddenly disappears :-)
As I suggested, I think we should have both the popup and instant changing to that workspace. The popup does indeed provide good feedback, but not so hot contextual information.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 86590 ***