Introduction to task switching
A key part of any operating system user interface is how it enables the user to switch between multiple tasks. In most desktop operating systems tasks are encapsulated into windows, and the most frequently used method of multi-tasking is window switching. Desktop OSs have multiple methods of window switching (e.g Alt-tab, clicking on indicators, notifications, etc…) however the most common means of window switching is via using what is variously termed a Launcher, Taskbar or Dock. Traditionally there has been a 1:1 correlation between each window and its representation in the Taskbar (see Windows2000 or Gnome2).
(Ubuntu Hardy Heron used Gnome2 which featured one taskbar icon per window)
With Windows XP, Microsoft introduced a way to aggregate multiple windows that belonged to the same application into a single task bar button. This change was primarily focused towards personas who made heavy use of multi-tasking; this feature only switched on when the number of windows represented in the Taskbar exceeded the length of the Taskbar. It gave the benefits of increasing the number of windows that could be comfortably represented in the available task bar space, and reduced the time and effort it took the user to visually scan a crowded Taskbar and identify an application. The cost of this change was that an additional click was required to switch to a window that was not the most recently focused window of that application.
(The WindowsXP desktop that introduced the concept of representing multiple windows with one taskbar icon)
Unity’s current window switching functionality
Fast forwarding to 2009, when working on the original designs for Unity we knew that window switching was one of the key areas of any OS’s user interface, and we set out to design a window switching paradigm that would surpass the utility and usability of the contemporary competition at the time (Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard). The Launcher was only 50% of that equation, the other 50% was a set of functionality we termed the ‘Spread’.
The Spread designs were completed, prototyped and tested well before the launch of Unity with 11.04, but unfortunately due to the huge number of other items that needed to be completed before we could launch a brand new desktop shell, the decision was made to postpone the development of this feature and use the Compiz equivalent of this functionality as a stop-gap measure.
(Compiz window switching in Ubuntu 11.04)
While using the Compiz window switching functionality enabled us to hit 11.04 launch deadline, there are a number ways in which it could be improved. Since then many many bugs, mailing list and forum postings have also requested the same set of functionality that was postponed as a result of this decision. Requests we frequently receive include:
- Please make it easier to tell one window from another, all terminals look very similar!
- Make it easier to select windows using keyboard navigation and shortcuts
- I would like to be able to easily close windows from the window switcher view
- Can you make it clearer to see which application’s windows are currently being displayed (in the switcher view)?
- I find it difficult to see which window is currently focused in the window switcher view, can this be improved?
- Can you find a way to make window switching faster?
Window switching requirements
After researching the window switching problem space and examining the use cases that a window switcher needs to support, we distilled the findings into a set of design requirements. These were:
- To aid window identification, the window previews should to be as large as possible, taking maximum advantage of the available screen real estate.
- Window switching needs to be very intuitive and easy to understand for new users. In user testing, a user who has never used Ubuntu before must be able to switch windows without encountering any difficulty.
- More experienced users should be offered an accelerated method of ultra-fast window switching.
- Users should be presented with all the information that is pertinent to making a window switching decision, but no more.
- The window switching mechanism should follow the activity/task hierarchy, in order to minimise time needed to identity the required application, support intensive multi-tasking use cases with very large numbers of windows, simplify the Launcher ordering problem, and make the most efficient use of the Launcher’s screen real estate.
A very brief introduction the ‘Spread’
So now with 12.04 almost behind us, we have dusted off our original Spread designs and given them a light spring clean ahead of development starting in 12.10. So without further ado…
This design shows when happens when a user clicks on the Firefox icon to spread the available windows. The maximum amount of screen real estate is dedicated to making the window previews as large as possible. Moving the pointer over any of the previews will display the window name in a window title bar, and a close button is included so that any window can be dismissed directly from this view. When in this view users can also directly switch to spreads of other running applications by clicking on application icons in the Launcher.
In addition to pointing and clicking with a mouse or trackpad, power users can perform all window switching actions without taking their hands off the keyboard. Holding down the SUPER key will reveal the Launcher with numbers overlaid on top of the individual Launcher icons.
Pressing a number performs the equivalent action to a left click, so if a app is already focused pressing its number will reveal a spread of its windows.
When the spread is revealed, numbers are displayed in the bottom left corner of the previews. Pressing a number will then select the relevant window and close the Spread. Added together this allows a power user to switch to any window of any application just by using the SUPER and NUMBER keys. In addition users will be able to navigate the Spread by using cursor keys to move the orange focus box and ENTER to select.
Another new feature is the ghost window ‘New Window’ option. Previously if a user wanted to open a new window for an application that was already running they had to either middle click on the application’s Launcher icon or press CTRL+N. The problem was that new users had no easy way of discovering these options. When using the Spread, a user can select the ghost window to open a new window of the currently focused application. This feature has even more benefits in a multi-monitor context, and if a application does not support multiple windows this option is not displayed.
Other features include the ability to filter the windows by typing…
and of course this new functionality apples to the SUPER+W spread of all windows on the desktop.
Multi-monitors, workspaces, and all the other gory details
This article only takes a very brief look at a few of the Spread’s features, and barely scratches the surface of the Spread design. A lot of thought has also gone into designing how the spread works in multi-monitor and/or multi-workspace environments, and if you are interested in learning more and reading all the gory details of how every corner case and eventuality is handled, head over to Unity Switching section of the The Toolkit to read the full spec.
Just WWWHHHAAAAOOOO !!! It just seem perfect !!! And what a perfect idea to use unity-style dash to search amongst windows ! Very great for the “New window” item, it’s just what is needed by new-comers. We just need the same for workspaces, À la Gnome Shell. You’re just wonderful in the design/UX teams.
Thanks! ;-) Have a look at the spec in http://design.canonical.com/the-toolkit/unity-task-switching/ for full details about how The Spread works with workspaces, let us know what you think.
I like it very much. One question: how to close window from the spread if I’d use touch input?
ok, so the number one major fail with unity is that it is hard to raise one window of an application without all the others rising to the top. Alt-tab between two recently used windows is horrible because it raises all the other windows and you get lost. Clicking a launcher action should raise *just* the most recently used window of that application. Clicking it again should raise the next one (or maybe all of them, I am OK with that) but clicking the launcher button raises like all the windows to the top, which is just messy.
Hi Alan, to respond to the two issue you raised:
1) the issue with windows that are not selected in Alt-tab being raised is a bug, see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/861250 Hopefully a fix for this bug will land soon in Precise.
2) Clicking a Launcher icon should raise *just* the most recently used window of that application (if that application is not already in focus). Clicking a second time should spread all the windows of that application, but *should not* change the state of any windows. If the user clicks on a minimised window in the Spread that window should be raised, but otherwise it’s state should not change. This is the current behaviour in Unity3d, but I think Unity2d may have a bug in this area.
In spread mode the window title should always display text and bigger.
It may look cool on a couple of browser window, but try with five spreadsheets(or pdfs, docs, terminals…), they will be barely indistinguishable. The only way to know the difference is with document name. This is a really common use case.
I’m having such a hard time at work in these cases that I have to use a taskbar like tint2
(something other than complaining)
Unity is shaping up really nicely and things are getting really polished.
Kudos to the design team.
Hi Luiz, when the pointer moves over a preview, the window title is always the normal 100% size irrespective of the preview’s scaling, does this answer your question?
I like what i’m reading. 10/10
Looks nice, but I am worried about one thing.
For example:
Situation is I have 2 windows (1 Firefox and 1 Nautilus) and I am using Nautilus.
If I want to switch to my Firefox window, I naturally click on the Firefox icon.
Currently (11.10), the Firefox window immediately appears and is usable (I can type text in it, or else).
But with the ‘Spread’, i understand that I will have to click twice: 1 click to display the ‘Spread’ (which will show the Firefox window + the ghost window), and a 2nd click to focus on my Firefox window. Am i right ?
Keep it up, guys. You’re doing amazing work. I love Ayatana’s efforts and I only wish you had the staff of MS to pull all this off in one fell swoop :).
It’s a mockup only ? Or you have some code in launchpad ?
Awesome!! I really like the idea.
4 words, “When does this Land?”, :)
Hi Yann, with The Spread this aspect of the window switching behaviour will stay as you currently like it.
The first click on a non-focused application does not trigger the spread, it always focuses the last focused non-minimised window. The Spread is only triggered when you click on a application that is already in focus a second time. Have a look at the spec in the ‘toolkit’ section of this blog for full details.
Hopefully 12.10. But like any new feature it has to hit our quality standards before it can land, so this is not guaranteed.
On the case I described with this behavior, it’ll take a lot of time until I can pick the right window(opening spread and hovering each window to find the right doc). It will be a lot slower than something like that WinXP screenshot.
Nice, I like this “sugar”, but… :)
sometimes when you have a lot of one app windows/instances opened (let’s say Skype – and you have 10 chat windows opened) – it is very hard to find needed window as they become very small with current compiz “show windows” effect and I think Spread would not make it much easier to find (when there are really a lot of windows it will also show them very small).
So at those times I’d want to have some popup list of opened windows (something like WinXP/Win7 implementation) on icon mouse hover (not to make additional click).
The goal is to get to needed window as fast as possible – and there should be a way get this window without to unneeded clicks, typing, search and even long animated effects of showing all windows – because it is annoying (as a lot of people and me are switching between windows 8-10 hours a day :)).
Sometimes just list of opened app instances is needed.
Maybe the most suitable implementation I’ve seen is in DocBarX (http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=101604)
“window title is always the normal 100% size ”
By the way, in the screenshot(spread firefox browser) the window window seems bigger.
Wow. Some really fantastic ideas here! Thank you.
One question, any chance dynamic workspaces will be implemented in some form?
but I’ll have to hover my mouse on all those windows to see each title, right now compiz/scale can have title all the time, gnome-shell too.
and I hope this will inherent scale middle click to close function, the close button is too small.
I think it would be even better if all window-titles are shown, at least optional. This would speed up the process of finding the right window.
Great work!
You could also be interested in this:
http://christianmartellini.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/alt-tab-and-unity/
I like it, but I would love to see the ability to map the spread commands to mouse buttons. Right now I have scale set to button 10 on my mouse and it works quite well for me. Keyboard shortcuts are great, but even though I consider myself a “power” user, I almost never use them. I like to drive from the mouse.
wow , this looks amazing!
1 question: When in the full spread will applications show their respective icons to help further distinguish between them?
for example I’ve been testing cinnamon and now has an improved spread, which helps quickly differentiate the running apps thanks to the icon.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yMA9-qHyzdU/T1_XvERtWHI/AAAAAAAAIMY/HA-fRZZ1Vdo/s1600/cinnamon-1.4_2.png
http://www.webupd8.org/2012/03/cinnamon-14-released-with-new-hot.html
I think them being on top of the previews instead of outside will be ok and saves space.
Anyway, kudos for the constant improvements I will so looking forward to this implementation in 12.10 !!!!! Unity will kick butt :)
The pictures shown in the document are so detailed! Are these just mockups or is that real code which is under heavy development at the moment?
Also if they are mockups how do you create such detailed mockups?
What about all this changes in Unity-2d?
“Pressing a number performs the equivalent action to a left click, so if a app is already focused pressing it’s number will reveal a spread of it’s windows.”
sb:
“Pressing a number performs the equivalent action to a left click, so if _an_ app is already focused pressing _its_ number will reveal a spread of _its_ windows.”
Thank you, kindly. :)
ok, it’s perfect then. Thanks John !
are you sure that is the current behavior in 3d? I have a fully updated precise and if I have a bunch of terminals on screen, then a firefox over the top of them, then click once on the terminal launcher icon *all* the terminals are now above the firefox window.
Well, I must have missed something, but how is Unity better than a traditional desktop? The truth is that it takes more time and more clicks to switch between applications. Unity is the death of multi-tasking!
Traditional desktop common user:
1- click to start applications through start menu or desktop icons
2-click use window titles in taskbar to switch between windows
Traditional desktop power user:
see above
—–
Unity desktop common user:
1- click to start applications through start menu, desktop icons or launcher tiles
2- click launcher tile to initate spread to manage windows and switch between them
Unity desktop power user:
1- start applications through super key + number string for prefered apps (in my case it’s super +134 for most days to start browser, mail, and music,)
2- Switch between applications with super key + app number + window number or alt+tab
——
Usage of app-based window managment presents a much easier to learn desktop paridgim for new users and allows for much more productive keyboard shortucts because of an extra layer of logical grouping, that is how unity is better than the traditional desktop.
This is absolutley amazing design and gives unity a real advantage in productivity environments. Thanks for making my desktop OS better and better :D
Out of curiosity, is the selected window glow going to be orange in stead of white? While this is consistant with radiance, a lot of people (myself included) don’t enjoy being forced into a colour pallete that may or may not look acceptable with their desktop background. What happens if i have an orange wallpaper and the chamelonic overlay onto the background makes the glow indistingusihable? The usage of orange glow on the workspaces switcher is much more acceptable because the background is pure black (something that should be fixed IMO) but in window spread this application of color can create an accesabilty/usability problem. Is there anything that can be done about this or is your commitment to a non-neutral/customizable color pallete steadfast for branding reasons?
Perhaps it would be wise to allow the user to custom define the “Selected item” colour for radiance/ambiance and unity highlights from a little colour box next to the theme selector dropdown box in the desktop apperance settings. That would be super cool and give people one less reason to reject it. It may be a trivial detail but a lot of people live in trivial details.
That’s exactly what i’m thinking. I’m not sure it’s better/faster than the tradicional winxp approach.
Nice!
One feature I miss is the possibility to drag a file from a maximized window to another. This is useful, for example, for attaching a file to an email from the file manager.
As far as I know, at this time, only “related” application to the dragged file seems to allow dropping.
It would be great if you could add some way to start the spread mode from a file drag.
Keep up the good work!
Has any thought been given to touch interfaces?
It seems really hard to close windows with touch, since both the spread and maximized windows only show window buttons on hover. That means the user can only close a window when it’s not maximized…
That’s a bit frustrating.
I really don’t appreciate the actual switching methods. I have got used to the current Alt+Tab and now I think it works pretty well, although I always avoid the launcher on my laptop (which I usually use without a mouse). It lacks pretty much the features listed above!
I think the you got the right spot with the ability to choose the windows using the numbers and the search bar!
Kudos to the team!
I agree with this. Titles should be visible for all the windows without hovering, so that you can scan through them at a glance. The process of going to the launcher, clicking twice, and then hovering in turn over each window to find the one you want (on the regular occasion when the tasks have no obvious visual difference) is going to be quite frustrating.
This looks like a big improvement. One thing I am curious about is how stable the key sequences will end up being.
I currently use XFCE desktop because this means I can put my (e.g.) Eclipse stuff on desktop 2, my web browsers on desktop 3, mail on desktop 4, chat on desktop 5, … photo processing / graphics on desktop 11 and use keyboard shortcuts to switch. Consequently I always know that will take me to my chat desktop and then I can among the few things on there to choose IRC, Pidgin or Skype.
Since those keys are assigned manually, they are very stable, and of course there’s a small overhead every month or so when I reboot my laptop for some reason and have to make sure I start programs running on those desktops. In fact that overhead is very small, because my fingers remember the desktop and my eyes see the program is not running and so I start it then. Once a program is running I don’t usually want it to stop running, unless it uses CPU continuously and makes the fan run all the time.
So stability of key sequences can be very useful, and I wonder if these will retain a similar stability, at least in the first ordering.
Regards,
Andrew McMillan.
wow!! congratulations, unity is becoming more efficient :)
the only thing I miss is the minimize action when clicking the app icon but I see a conflict there when you have two or more windows of the same aplication…
Thank you for all your amazing work!
This will be much better, for sure. But I really miss something to open an window from quicklist. For example, sometimes will be much easier to open the icon quicklist and open directly the window that I want.
I think the Elementry (Jupiter) launcher have that, when you right click show all open window, it’s faster then open all the windows and select what you want.
I found that, I think it’s explain better what I say:
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2012/03/16/unity-window-quicklists/
You make my points!
As a “common user” you have at least as many clicks in Unity to start an application as on a traditional desktop, see your list. Except if you are unlucky and don‘t have the application on the launcher or don’t remember it’s name when Unity is considerably slower than a traditional desktop. What’s the gain?
As a computer user since 20 odd years (I hate your word power user). I use short cuts to start applications similar to Unity, but simpler and personalised. Nothing new here either, except for the awkwardness and lack of customisation of Unity.
I can’t accept that it is simpler to switch between applications or windows with a multi key spells or with a special click on a launcher than to point and click on the panel as on a traditional desktop. The “short cuts” in Unity take focus away from the workflow, are hard to learn and customise. I can use ALT+TAB or other short cuts on a traditional desktop too, so there is nothing new in Unity except for lack of options and awkwardness.
The new window switcher occupies the whole workspace which takes focus away from the running application. On a traditional desktop I have the same amount of information discreetly distilled on a smaller area with window thumbnails, windows lists etc. Unity really comes between you and your work.
When I use Unity I open an application – Do something – Close application – Open new application and so on. It is too frustrating to have multiple applications running or several instances of the same application open. This is not the way I desire to work, but the way Unity has made me to. Unity is death to multi-tasking and bad design.
Unity may work on tablets where you run one application at a time or refrigerators but not on desktops for work that includes intense multi-tasking (as for me).
Just because something is new it does not have to be good!
“In addition to pointing and clicking with a mouse or trackpad, power users can perform all window switching actions without taking their hands off the keyboard. Holding down the SUPER key will reveal the Launcher with numbers overlaid on top of the individual Launcher icons. ”
12.04 updated to Unity 5.6.0-0ubuntu4
I can see the left-click on launcher icon to see the window spread behaviour now.
When using press and hold Super key, only the first 10 launcher icons are numbered 1,2…0
What happens if I want to spread the windows from the keyboard for an icon that is, say, number 15 in the launcher?
It is very nice and I agree that one click should focus the last window nad hovering the icon for a while without clicking should spread.
More than 4 windows at a time shouldn’t be possible in order to maintain lisibility.
More than 4 windows of an instance should be scrollable horizontally.
Very Good work for 12.04 by the design team except :
We have overlay scrollbars everywhere but the four main programms (firefox, thunderbird, office and chromium). No other OS has two scrollbar systems.
Lo-menubar not integrated (for the same reasons)
Hud is not matured enough for its inclusion in lts It doesn’t understand anything. can’t even read menus and unable to bold a text….
Bring back dodge has it was the main mode used by most people and believe me it was far less confusing than HUD for newbies !!!
Can’t wait for 14.04 ;-)
When I use Unity I open an application – Do something – Close application – Open new application and so on. It is too frustrating to have multiple applications running or several instances of the same application open. This is not the way I desire to work, but the way Unity has made me to. Unity is death to multi-tasking and bad design.
A perfect summation of the failure that is unity.
This looks good. And once you get 20 or more terminals, seeing previews won’t be very helpful, but it sounds like setting the titlebar on the terminals and then typing while selecting a window will get me exactly what I want. I look forward to testing!
Hi! I’m eager to see that feature landing in Ubuntu. Nice work!
Hi there, this is really awesome, it’s a shame that we have to wait for this to Precise +1, really.
Anywhay, are any plans to use Unity Windows Quicklist? http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2012/03/16/unity-window-quicklists/
I think it would be the perfect complement to The Spread.
Totally agree, I’ve tried Unity and found it nearly useless. Here we have people running around saying “Look at what Unity can do now … we can MULTITASK!”. Bah! I can’t understand why anyone even thinks it is a competitor to Gnome 2 or Gnome-Classic.
If you look at Gnome 2 / Gnome-Classic you find almost the the ideal desktop: the programs YOU want to “one-click-start” along the top of the screen (along with date, time, etc), the programs concurrently running along the bottom, and no icons on the desktop. YES, that is boring, and yes, that isn’t exciting, but the viewing area in your browser is valuable realestate, you don’t sell it cheaply.
Icons on the side of the screen waste that valuable realestate.
Hi, I would like to have a feature that: when pointing the app’s icon on the launcher, scrolling your mouse up or down will raise (only) the previous or next window of that app. I think that will be very useful if you just wish to raise one window, instead of all windows of the same app.
Hope this will be taken into consideration. Thank you.
Looking just great, thanks for putting all the effort into making Unity and Ubuntu the even more most awesomest computing environment available to the humankind.
Regarding this issue of window/task -switching: many programs have their internal methods for these same functions, the most typical are the tabs in browsers, text editors etc. I wonder what could be made about them? I know a lot of people are using tabs on their browsers, so there’s an extra step in the hierarchy.
Personally i always have one Firefox (often maximized or full-screen) window open with 1-10 tabs open, and thus no window manager can truly get me all the way where-ever i want to go when task switching. Perhaps is should quit the habit of using tabs altogether, and use windows instead?
I would have thought a “Unity Advocate” would have responded to your comment by now.
Since none of them have, I would suggest you try Gnome-Classic mode, which is almost the same as the famous Gnome 2 desktop. If it wasn’t for Gnome-Classic I would have ditched Ubuntu long ago. The only real difference between Gnome 2 and Gnome Classic is that you need to press “Alt” when you “right-click” on the top bar of the screen if you want to add something to the “panel” e.g. Firefox browser, Pidgin (yeah, I use Pidgin, it has “new mail” alert!), Chrome browser, etc.
Please don’t forget us “keyboard users” in all these cool new features. I’d love to believe that I can do all this using only a keyboard – at great speed. Even the Alt-Space key combination to bring up the control menu of a window requires that I *wait* for the menu to appear before I can press X to maximize the window. If I don’t wait then it sends the keypress to the application instead of the menu.
Rule of thumb: all features should have keyboard support and if I’m using those keyboard features you can safely assume I don’t need fancy sliding animations etc. I want to “wow!” people when I use Ubuntu, not apologize for it.
You’re rocking, keep it up! Thanks. :)
It would be nice to have a possibility to close window(s) (using a small “cross” icon in the right upper corner of windows) in the spread mode and SUPER+W mode :)
Agreed. Window title (is often the most important distinguisher between different windows. Especially when scaled down, many windows look very much alike, and when you are doing serious work, you most of the time concentrate on the text, not on how the web page in question looks generally.
In my opinion, switching between windows was easier with Gnome panel with it’s tiny window indicators, because those tiny indocators each had relevant text on them. You didn’t have to go around hunting with the mouse cursor to see the text; it was there all the time. Seeing what windows were open in different workspaces was a breeze; you could just Ctrl + Alt + Arrow through the work spaces viewing the texts (and icons) on the lower panel. You were done in a few seconds with your hands and fingers staying at the same position all the time and your eyes looking at the same area (the lower panel).
I had a wish list bug in launchpad which detailed one way to fix this. We can do something similar to the google reader way [1]. As we start typing in the spread window, we can pop-up a frame that list a filtered list of titles that match what we typed.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/780572
[1] if you are a google reader user try g-u key binding.
This looks nice, still I am adjusting myself from minimize, maximize thing to always maximized windows. Still there are some issues regarding the workspace switcher e.g When I have started workspace I don’t want the notifications to appear on all virtual Desktops. Things like volume controller work when I scroll my mouse, but those windows don’t open. May be this is a design decision, but what is visible and clickable should be clickable and functional in my opinion. Even the menu’s of currently selected application is disabled in this mode. As most of we expect everything should behave as a single unity experience.
much better than current. Workspace management and and the window spread i think were weak points in unit compared to other desktop environments. This should help
unrelated: Please move the BFB back tot he panel. It looks like the user testing has showed the move doesn’t help new users discover it that much. That;s probably because it doesn’t have the same function as the buttons on the launcher. And for everyday users, it sucks not having the button visible all the time if the launcher is hidden. Also, it was nice to be able to fling the mouse to the top left and click, now flinging the mous tot he top left and clicking does nothing, not even closing the window. so you still have to aim for the close button. Also, if the launcher is visible now, the maximized windows now look crazy because the title rides from above the launcher to over the window and it looks awful. This single change has had a huge negative impact to my workflow. (to the point that i’m finding myself avoiding dash use, when i really actually like the dash)
dodge was amazing because it was smart. out of the way when it’s in the way. simple.
The icons on the bump bar should not only maximise or start the app, but should allow a second click to minimise the app if it is already ‘up’.
I find it quite annoying that I currently have to move the mouse onto that tiny ‘minimise’ target, just to make that action happen. The previous, and quite successful, action was simply to have a single button with toggle-action maximise/minimise on the bottom taskbar.
The more clicks or movement that you force upon users, the less they will like your interface, and the more they will shift away to Cinnamon desktop or even Mint Linux.
>Look at what Unity can do now … we can MULTITASK!”.
I know how you feel, i remember when my friends were all happy when their iphones finally got cut and paste, they acted like it was the invention of the decade.
You know, sort of like reading this.
I keep coming back to Buntu to see how its changed since the sex change and rehashing of old ideas like HUD (in a touch centric world, going to the keyboard seems like a step back) and this but making it harder to have the desktop how I (and most of my extended family that doesnt want to switch and that Ive introduced to XCFE and KDE) and others want.
Still havent found ‘the’ thing which will make a switch to a desktop that isnt flexible worth it.
Thats why I read this article, I thought the Spread was something different, some new paradigm.
just asking is this more for touch screens
In-application replications of window management really have to go. Because it feels like Windows 3.11′s MDI. It is a sad state of affairs that most current window management is so bad that some applications needed to create their own version of it in order to avoid clutter in antiquated window button lists like the Windows XP task bar. In an ideal world, tabbing would be a function of the window manager itself. There is really nothing magical about tabs and all the “innovation” that is happening around them is just weird.
Ironically, so many users seem to cling to their beloved window button lists at the bottom of the screen or in “docks”, not noticing that these interfaces were conceived in a time when personal computers couldn’t handle as many applications running at the same time as they do now. Approaches like Gnome Shell, Apple’s Expose and now Unity are much more practical. And they would be perfect if there weren’t these damned tabs! :)
10 Don’t think for a second anyone in the design team will listen to anyone outside it. The design team is a closed team working in the open. Like those restaurants where you can see the cooks cooking through glass walls, you know?
20 The dodge is dead. The dictator dictated. It’s MUCH MORE important for him to create a new toy (the HUD) and put it inside an LTS (WTF?) than cleaning the code so the dodge stays as an -obviously- non-default behaviour.
30 Overlay scrollbars won’t be consistent across the desktop. Never ever. It’s out of the dictator’s hands, unless he’s willing to fork XUL apps, Chromium or LO himself. Removing them from the system is easy enough though (that’s what consistency conscious users like me do).
40 This spread thing is nice. I just wonder if it’s not a solution to a problem that didn’t exist before Unity, but hey, Unity is surely well beyond the point of no return, so better have it patched to work than left in its sorry current state.
50 Minimising on the third click to an icon is considered by hundreds like the right thing to do (according to a famous bug report), but goto 10.
I’m on a netbook (my beloved, dear Asus EeePC 901, with 2GB RAM), and i somehow assume/hope that using tabs uses less memory and other resources. I have no data to back this up, though.
I’ve been using tabs in the browser (for ages, first in Opera, now Firefox), and also with gedit, terminal and Empathy. This week i’m trying to kick this habit, and see how it feels to keep spawning new windows.
Firefox has of course been the main program with tabs, and they’re developing it too. You can of course jump between tabs with keyboard shortcuts, do the “Expose” -thing (Ctrl+Shift-E), group tabs, jump to a tab by typing it’s title in the address-bar etc.
I agree with you Dragan in that in The Ideal World this should all be under the window management method in use. But in The Ideal World innovation and development also is not centralized.
I’ve reported the incorrect window raising behaviour here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/959339
It’d be great to get this fixed before 12.04 is released!
That is the same behavior I experience, all the terminal windows come up but at least the focus remains on the last active terminal window I clicked. That works for me.
Sicofante, don’t you ever get tired of trolling?
mm..
in this case tabs can be changed with dinamic window quicklists !?
http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/03/dynamic-window-quicklist-for-unity.html
and then windows may look in this way !?
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114164822430393672357/albums/5721636409316367761/5721636408714805346
if that will happen, I’ll be very happy!! :)
In my opinion, there are two usability issues here:
If you have multiple of the same sort of window open, such as multiple file browsers, and for whatever reason you can’t access them all directly on the screen, say if they’re maximized, it takes an extra click to get to them. A click to show all open windows of the type, then another click to select the window you want. Extra clicks is always a bad thing. The fewer the clicks, the smoother the flow.
Second, let’s say you again have to file browsers open and one of them is minimized. If you drag a file from the first file browser to the icon on the dash and let it hover there, it won’t automatically restore the minimized window like Gnome 2 does. This is a feature I use often, and need.
Not to mention of course the complete lack of real configuration, such as being able to configure your fonts, or add launchers to the desktop, or add custom launchers to the dash, or custom launch commands to file types, without either having to install an extra configuration package or manually edit configuration files.
I mean, you can do all those things in Windows, and you used to be able to do them in Linux. Isn’t Linux supposed to be better and more easily configurable than Windows? Configuration in Linux should be getting easier, not more complex by making you jump through extra hoops to do it.
If I recall correctly, this is not a Unity bug but a Compiz ‘feature’. Anyways, it has prevented me from using Unity up to this point… such a shame.
If by “trolling” you mean pointing the obvious glitches of the current design trends in Ubuntu and the hypocrisy of calling open what’s just closed behind a glass, then I might be tireless.
+1
The title should always be there.
Possibly making the text bigger will help to quickly find the right window too.
would be more than happy seeing this in Unity-2D as well
kudos folks
flooring protection is a whole lot much more crucial for more substantial cars such as vans. As pointed out before those that have large vans most likely us them for enterprise purposes or maybe for other dirty hobbies such as going mudding in them. Taking care of your truck is like taking care of a pet these as a dog, you hold it clear, hold up the upkeep on it, get the oil changes frequently, you get my point. So why would you not acquire substantial high quality ground lining for your truck? Most folks do simply because it is just one particular of the primary necessities that are highly deemed. You will most likely shell out a lot of time driving your truck which means that if you don’t have them, your carpet in your automobile can corrode simply and will go away your carpet ruined. It’s not practically as merely or quickly achievable to alter the carpet in your vehicle; once it really is messed up you have to deal with it so this is yet another reason why you should invest in some excessive quality flooring mats.
Please also include a readable display of the window title as proposed in https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/734253
The solutions proposed here still don’t make it easy to select from multiple (more than 4) text document windows.
In other words: We realized we made a retarded and useless interface, and now we’re trying to make it less retarded without admitting how stupid we are.
Things that are hidden until mouseover are called “Mystery Meat Navigation” — It’s a bad thing. The internet learned this ten years ago. This is ridiculous. Hidden global menus, how does a new user even know they’re up there? Hidden app names on the launcher, that’s great if you have meaninful icons. And now hidden window titles on something that was supposed to UNobfuscate and distinguish windows! GENIUS!
Maybe if my mouse cursor reaches warp 10, it will occupy all points on the screen at once, and a whole world of information will open up to me, because everything that was needlessly hidden will be revealed!
I would like to be able to arrange the order of windows in the spread rather than it being automatic.
I would also like to be able to assign virtual desktops to displays so that display #1 shows virtual desktop #1 and display #2 shows virtual desktop #2 and so on.
Actuallu, screen estate is one area where unity shines. When you maximize a window the are the title bar was is now open, you might find this annoying but it saves screen estate. Also, because screens are wider than they are tall, we have extra room lenghtwise. By putting the launcher on the side you can see more content virtically, as most content on computers are layed out.(Scrolling up and Down)
wow many typos, when you maximize a window the area where the title bar was is now open. ;-)
I used to think you are being sarcastic…
What does Unity save room for? A whole lot of emptiness? Wouldn’t it be better to actually use the screen estate on modern screens?
I tend to use the launcher to navigate between tasks. So I click on the firefox icon to switch to firefox, click on the terminal icon to switch to my terminal.
Will this change mean that I’ll always need to click twice now? As clicking on the firefox icon will show me a spread with the existing window and a blank plus window just in case I want a new one?
No, see the “Switching Applications” header in section 1 (“The Launcher”). If a app is not focused but is running, first click focuses the application. There are also some multi-monitor specific use cases that need to be supported, look at the “Multiple Monitors UX specification phase 1″ specification ( https://docs.google.com/a/canonical.com/document/d/1aHvJ-iIw-59bXTYBmIhQqEx0za2h9jpFE_RhZ2VOvJc/edit?authkey=CJO5wPkH&hl=en_GB#heading=h.aeqlcq943n5y ) and read section “2.8 Launcher”.
Will this be a part of the unity compiz plugin or a seperate plugin? this is important to me beacuse I use xfce and compiz, which means I don’t enable the unity plugin, and as compiz scale is mostly broken (per app, and all windows on all workspaces) in precise I would like to have that funcionality work again
Great work on this. It’s taken me some time to get used to it in 12.04 Beta, but now that I’m acclimated to it, I think it’s brilliant.
wow, awesome article. Awesome.
The document states that workspaces are no longer enabled by default. This doesn’t seem to be true in Ubuntu 12.04 beta II.
However, I think it’s a good a idea because workspaces only complicates the working with multiple windows/applications (especially for the average user).
Having an application switcher (with the functionality of super + w) instead of the workspace switcher on the launcher would be great!
Another idea would be to use the desktop for this. This way you always have an overview of all the windows in the background. An user can’t loose a window this
way any more!
One aspect that’s very important to all the designs: when you use an animation: make it swift and easy for the eyes.
If this is not the case an animation easily becomes irritating (like the current design of task switching).
Wow, looks great. I love the way unity is shaping up. I recently switched from windows, and I am so happy I did.
One question though, besides the spread design, which I love, will you add quicklist support for this? It would be nice to be able to view, browse and close windows just from a quicklist. This might not be so important when let’s say browsing files, where the spread alone would do just fine, but if I am looking for something on the internet, and a thousand popups come out, I actually don’t need the nice animation and spread design, I just want them to go away as fast as possible to continue doing what I was doing.
Just a thought
Hey John. I have been using Ubuntu only since 11.04 [have been a steady Windows user for many years]… tried Ubuntu because I had been waiting for Linux for years to become usable for me. A friend told me that I should try Ubuntu on the netbook that I had just bought. I installed and now there is NO WAY that I will switch back to Windows [unfortunately, have to continue using Win 7 on my desktop because of Outlook and Adobe designer suite]. A friend saw Ubuntu on my netbook and asked me to get one just like it for his wife… so I bought it and they are now using 11:10 with great peace of mind.
I REALLY like what you guys are doing and how you are polishing a great OS even further. It is amazing that you guys are so responsive to comments. The purpose of this note is to THANK all of you guys for what you are doing.. The only “beef” that I have is that I can not yet replace my Win 7 workstation with an Ubuntu machine… but that is not your problem, it is a situation with Adobe that refuses to port to Linux.
All the best and a BIG THANK YOU again.
Switching between windows was easier in Gnome2 especially with multiple windows of the same app. Every switch was accomplished in ONE click(two if on a different workspace AND not in focus).
One click = Done
VS
One click/key shortcut > animation time > pick a window > animation time = Done
With Unity and Gnome3 all the minimized windows go to little light land on the dock and turn to theoretical apparitions instead of visually verifiable reality. That is how users loose windows. This is one of the worst parts of OSX why emulate it and then invent a way to work around it? The Gnome3 workspaces in activities is a more functional work around but still extra effort.
Using the dock to get to minimized windows forces one to select from a more numerous than necessary, changing, set of icons (don’t miss and open writer by accident) that do not indicate which window you will get until you delve into anther series of clicks. The right click menus often disappear too easily or quickly. The “searching for one’s self” app launcher presents more dynamic lists to choose from. The thing about computers is, they perform repetitive tasks, predictably.
So, coming next is the other bad thing about OSX? Never knowing if an app is going to close or not. How about taking support for multiple mouse buttons away? And why would anyone want to maximize a window? Or turn off mouse acceleration? Maybe more symbol/function keys and combos would be good. Backspace/delete hmmm…
This would be a great alternative touchpad environment, but my 22 inch screen real estate is not worth this kind of multiple click-click-clicking non-usability. By the way, who is making all of these Ubuntu compatible pads? And who would want to buy one after using this UI in the wrong environment, like a desktop?
Great news!! :-))
1) “… and a close button is included so that any window can be dismissed directly …”
-> GREAT !!! :-))
2) “Moving the pointer over any of the previews will display the window name in a window title bar”
-> I would prefer, that the window name is displayed in *all* previews, not only the one, where the pointer is – espacially in the SUPER+W spread.
It should be similar to the solution in the GNOME-Shell (see screenshot http://www.abload.de/img/overview_gnome-shell91kde.jpeg ), where *all* windows show the name.
Great job you are doing! I love Unity.
The task needs-rework, Here is my BIG PROBLEM
I have a large window with a white background open(very likely most of the time). The task-switcher highlights the current window in white, I don’t know which is the current window.
the task switcher background needs to be black and not alphablended to the background as in the case. or we can have an option to choose the color of the task-switcher background. take a cue from the gnome3 task switcher.
The same problem with the key to pop up the shortcuts. I can hardly see the
Mousing all the way across the screen may not be necessary to get the window name to show or to select which window. Instead, if to the right of the firefox button, at the same time the spread is rendered, Unity should render a tiny icon sized button group in the same geometric configuration as the spread layout. This button group can be easily and swiftly browsed over by the mouse with minimal motion and then click the button of the corresponding window when you decide which one you want. The mouse can then be relocated to the middle of the chosen window after it is fully drawn and blink or something to draw your eyes. Now you’re ready to go.
is this going to be in 12.10
Jacqui MoockThe moment you get aduetaqe amounts of compensation it will ensure that your monetary travails are over. The right compensation is the kind of settlement that you deserve for having been put through all the trauma and turmoil.
Will Spread be available in 12.10 ?
That’s a nice picture, but not what I see on my screen. What I see is a spread full of shrunken windows too small for me to clearly distinguish. Perhaps that’s the price I pay for having more than 3 or 4 firefox or terminal windows at the same time.
Besides, I prefer text to graphics. X supports a “title” for windows, and most terminal and browser programs use it. That gets you a text string identifying the window. What I want is a list of text strings, not images. You can include the images too, for those who find reading challenging, or whoever it is who likes them… but please give me the text.
As of now, the only way I can get the actual names is if I step through windows one by one with alt back-tick. That’s tedious, but the best I’ve so far found Unity to offer.
Failing that, it would help a lot if items in the spread were sticky – the same window would still be #5 after I’ve tried the similar looking windows 1,2,3, and 4 and determined they aren’t the one I wanted.
But frankly, what I really want is a minimum of feature parity with twm. (Remember it?)
In case it matters, I’m running 12.04, but it looks like the features discussed above have been imported into it, except I can’t figure out what keys to press to make the selection by number work.
Also, as a new Ubuntu user, long time power *nix user – thank you very much for telling me I could get help by using the “Super” key. Once I guessed which key you meant, I learned all kinds of useful things. This really really needs to be in that video overview for new users.
It looks awesome, i’ll now take a look at upgrading from 12.04 to 12.10 to benefit from these! cant wait!
“A key part of any operating system user interface is how it enables the user to switch between multiple tasks.”
I find it jaw-dropping that anyone could start from this axiom and end up at the task-switching UI in Unity (or Gnome Shell, for that matter).
What used to be one mouse movement and one click (or maybe two of each if I wanted a window on a different workspace) is now a ridiculous collection of keypresses and/or mouse clicks with no intuitive way to remember what is where. The old way used my spatial memory, the new way forces me to stop and scrutinise each iconised window to figure out which one I might want. The more windows and workspaces you use in the course of your daily work, the worse the whole mess gets. Absolutely ridiculous levels of regression in functionality and ease of use.
I can only assume the interface was designed with tablets in mind, running maybe 2 or 3 applications at a time, because it certainly doesn’t work well on busy desktop machines or even laptops.
Arlie, you want the gnome-classic interface. And so does almost anyone else who works with multiple windows, I strongly suspect.
i want your help to understand how the desktop/workspace switching is implemented in the code. Any help would be appreciated.