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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: KDE3 defaults
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () kde ! org>
Date:       2003-08-19 20:49:27
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On Tuesday 19 August 2003 02:09, Sébastien Laoût wrote:
> > > (entries in the taskbar are the same :-/ ).
> >
> > Maybe also show the desktop in the tooltip from items in the taskbar?
>
> Hum. One question (for everybody) :
> - What is/are the reason(s) to have more that one desktop and display
> windows of ALL desktops in the taskbar, regardless of there desktop ?

because i don't always remember which desktop a window is on. without the 
taskbar showing all windows i then have to cycle through each desktop to find 
it. it also allows one the option of paying attention to the pager or not.

try this: show only the windows on the current desktop; run a program on 
desktop 1; move to desktop 2; run a program there; move to desktop 3; ask 
them to find the various windows. not having the information in the taskbar 
is a stumbling block.

some of this is due to the taskbar not really showing desktop state. there is 
no indication in the taskbar about which desktop you are on. if there was a 
label stating which desktop the windows were being shown for in "only show 
windows on current desktop" that might help; esp if that label also allowed 
one to pick other desktops / and or openned a window list.

> For me, have mutli-desktops can free the taskbar of all windows from
> other desktops, and only play with a restricted part of windows, easy to
> manage and grouped by task (game on desk1, web on desk2, dev on
> desk3...).

indeed... that's why the option is there in the taskbar =)

> - So, why all windows are shown by default in the taskbar (or is it the
> case in 3.2) ? It's useless (for me), and can disturb users : "How a
> good feature ! I will try to click on '2' and... that's all ! My windows
> are there, as before (but minimized). Strange useless feature". And they
> will ignore these 4 strange squares.

right now the pager is really no more than a  complementary view of the same 
information that the taskbar shows. which is unfortunate, since the pager 
[c|sh]ould be much more.

right now it's basically a read-only view of window outlines. which is a pity. 
if it showed windows that needed attention, allowed moving of windows, popped 
up tooltips for the window under the mouse cursor when mousing over the 
pager, allowed interacting with windows by right-clicking on the window 
representation, etc... the pager would be much more useful.

anyways.. as it stands, the taskbar is too single-desktop-centric in its 
display to be useful in "only show windows on current desktop" mode in a 
multidesktop environment, while the pager is too non-interactive. ergo, at 
least in part, the current situation. 

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
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