Using the task switcher, hard to cycle through different terminals

Bug #841872 reported by Björn Tillenius
18
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
Ayatana Design
New
Undecided
Unassigned
Unity
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned
unity (Ubuntu)
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

I was going to say that if you have multiple terminals open, the task switcher shows only one of them. However, I just figured out that you can choose different ones by using the arrow keys.

However, it still feels like a regression of how it used to be. I have quite a lot of terminals open, and cycling through them with Alt-Tab was effective for choosing the correct one. Now I see an option of a bunch of terminals, but the text is so small, so I can't see which one I want to switch to.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity 4.12.0-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-10.16-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-10-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,compiztoolbox,decor,gnomecompat,snap,regex,mousepoll,resize,vpswitch,imgpng,place,resizeinfo,move,animation,grid,workarounds,wall,unitymtgrabhandles,expo,session,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
Date: Mon Sep 5 17:22:23 2011
ProcEnviron:
 LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-09-04 (1 days ago)

Revision history for this message
Björn Tillenius (bjornt) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote : Re: [Bug 841872] Re: Using the task switcher, hard to cycle through different terminals

We also have ctrl+` key to switch directly between the window of the same app.

Revision history for this message
Björn Tillenius (bjornt) wrote :

On Mon, Sep 05, 2011 at 06:09:10PM -0000, Omer Akram wrote:
> We also have ctrl+` key to switch directly between the window of the
> same app.

Oh, didn't know about that (although it seems to be Alt+`. However, that
doesn't help, since I still can't read the text, and it also doesn't
help much switching from a browser to a terminal.

--
Björn Tillenius | https://launchpad.net/~bjornt

Revision history for this message
Omer Akram (om26er) wrote :

>>and it also doesn't help much switching from a browser to a terminal.

actually it does after alt+` if you press tab you can move next window
though there is a little learning curve ;-)

Revision history for this message
Anders Feder (afeder) wrote :

I have to agree that the previews sometimes are a little illegible. Maybe the window titles could be rendered subtly across the middle of the previews?

Revision history for this message
David Gomes (davidgomes) wrote :

I agree with Omer, one needs to get used to it, and then it's fairly simple. However, the previews are not very legible.

Revision history for this message
John Lea (johnlea) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Richard Merren (richard-merren) wrote :

I like the ALT + ` switching...I didn't know about it either. But I have an issue that seems to fall under this bug. When I have several windows open including multiple terminal windows, if I alt-tab to the terminals the wrong one is active. Terminal A sits behind Terminal B, but Terminal A has the active cursor and accepts keyboard input. I use transparency in the terminals, otherwise I probably wouldn't have known what was going on.

The ALT+` switching lets me pick the proper one--when I switch between them with this key combo the active one comes back to the front. Also, when I use ALT+TAB to pick a specific instance of the terminal (Hit ALT+TAB, pause on the icon for the terminals and wait for the multiple ones to show up or press the down arrow to get to selections, then select the one I want) they end up in the correct z-order with the active one on top.

To recreate: open a few windows (I have chromium, "home folder", and Geany open) along with two terminal window instances. Go to the browser and ALT+TAB to the terminal icon. The active terminal is not in the front.

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in unity:
status: New → Confirmed
Omer Akram (om26er)
Changed in unity (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Changed in unity:
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
tags: added: needs-design
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